BetPlay League Final: Bucaramanga vs. Santa Fe and the poker of keys to take into account, analysis

Bucaramanga secured their place in the final series as first in group A by beating 3-1 at home against Deportivo Pereira3-1, for the triumph of Millionaires about Junior in Bogotá 2-0, and thanks to having the tiebreaker factor in their favor, with 8 points, for being the head of the group by having a better round-robin phase.

Similar is not the same

The two teams play three central defenders, which on the surface would make them similar, but in reality they are two different schemes with different strategies.

Santa Fe’s three defenders make the team position itself much further forward on the field, they allow the entering full-backs to help in the pressure away from their goal and, in effect, help to gain volume in the midfield.

Santa Fe actually forms a basic 3-5-2 with wing backs. Bucaramanga’s three central defenders, on the other hand, allow a five-man defensive backline, the seed of the trunk of the game proposed by the Venezuelan coach Rafael Dudamel: The ‘five’ in defense is essential to ensure their security at the back and from there germinate their transition game to attack and counterattack.

Bucaramanga plays a basic 5-3-2 with laterals coming out.

Numeric confirmations

Despite both playing with a three-center tactical scheme, what has been said is confirmed by the statistical data.

Despite having a very similar scoring power (30 goals from Santa Fe and 28 from Bucaramanga) and having conceded the same number of goals (13), León from Santa Fe has had more shots on goal than the Leopardos (103 to 87) which points to the more offensive vocation of the former which, however, have been less effective.

Bucaramanga’s conversion percentage is evidently stronger (14.2 percent to 11.6 percent) with also obviously greater finishing accuracy (44.2 percent to 29.8 percent).

Bucaramanga in its primary philosophy of defending behind, first maintaining the security system in which it commits many more fouls than its rival: 346 (the one that has hit the most in the entire League) out of 301, with 72 yellow cards, 15 more than Santa Faith (57) .

Of course, Santa Fe has one more sent off than its rival in the final (4 to 3).

It’s not a child’s thing

On the Santa Fe side, their striker and captain stand out Hugo Rodallega (38 years old), the winger Elvis Perlaza (35), the midfielder Daniel Torres (34), goalkeeper Andrés Mosquera (32), Dairon Mosquera (31), Juan Zuluaga (30) and Marcelo Ortiz (30). Even Facundo Agüero (29).

Bucaramanga bases its power on players like Carlos Henao (35 years old), Fabián Sambueza (35), Jéfferson Mena (34), Freddy Hinestroza (34) and Favry Castro (32), all of them starters. Even the goalkeeper Aldair Quintana (29) has already been champion.

The strength of the starters of both teams is in the power of experience, and that is reflected in the general average of the League, their complete registered rosters appear among those with the highest average age: Santa Fe is the third in the country, with 27.8 years on average, and Bucaramanga is fourth, with 27.7.

Here and there

Bucaramanga and Santa Fe are the two best teams playing at home in the League. Bucaramanga, with one more match in that condition, surpasses its final rival with a very even record of matches won (7 to 6), tied (2 to 2) and lost (1-1).

However, the visiting campaign of the Búcaros is superior to that of the Cardinals, perhaps due to their game design of waiting and counterpunching effectively, more applicable in that condition.

Bucaramanga is the third best visitor in the League, with one game less than Santa Fe in that condition. He won 4 duels, tied 2 and lost 3. He scored 6 goals and had 4 scored against him.

Santa Fe, for its part, is the sixth visitor in the League, with a record of 4 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses.

He scored 8 goals, but they scored 9. In the final, the first match will be in Bucaramanga and the final match will be in Bogotá.

Gabriel Meluk Orozco

Sports Multimedia Editor