The Palogrande stadium will be the venue for a key match for the aspirations of two teams looking to take off in the lower-middle zone of Colombia's First A standings. Once Caldas, as hosts, will receive Llaneros FC in a direct clash between two squads separated by just one point in the classification, where every single point matters greatly for the remainder of the championship.
How Once Caldas arrives
The 'white white' squad sits in 12th place with 13 points from 3 wins, 4 draws and 5 losses in 12 matches played. Their goal difference is negative (-1), with 15 goals for and 16 against, numbers that reflect the difficulties the team has had in finding consistency in the tournament.
In their last five commitments, Once Caldas has accumulated just one win, one draw and three losses. The team drew 1-1 as visitors against Internacional de Bogotá in their most recent outing, but before that result they fell 1-3 at home against Atlético Bucaramanga and also lost 0-1 away to Deportivo Pasto. The only win in that stretch was 1-0 against Deportes Tolima, playing at home, while they also suffered a 1-2 loss against Deportivo Cali at Palogrande.
How Llaneros FC arrives
The team from the plains sits in tenth place with 14 points, from 4 wins, 2 draws and 6 losses in their 12 appearances. Like their current rival, they present a negative goal difference of -1, with 15 goals for and 16 against, figures that show irregular progress in the competition.
Llaneros FC's recent run is also not encouraging: of the last five matches played, they could only win one and lost the remaining four. The most recent loss was 1-2 at home against América de Cali, the tournament leaders. Before that defeat, they also lost 1-2 away to Cúcuta Deportivo and 2-3 away to Internacional de Bogotá. The only positive result in that stretch was the 2-0 achieved at home against Atlético Nacional, one of the candidates fighting at the top of the table.
The standings and what is at stake
The top of the First A is led by América de Cali with 27 points, followed by Deportivo Cali with 24 and Atlético Bucaramanga with 23, teams that set a very different pace than what both Once Caldas and Llaneros FC are showing this season. The difference between the leader and the Manizales squad is 14 points, a gap that illustrates the moment the 'white white' is going through.
For Once Caldas and Llaneros FC, this match represents a concrete opportunity to close the gap with the middle-table positions. With just one point separating both teams in the standings, the outcome of this clash could define which of the two manages to get some breathing room in the table and which continues to be in trouble in the lower part of the championship.
Our take
Analyzing the numbers, our assessment is that this is an even contest between two teams going through similar runs of adverse results. Both have accumulated more losses than wins in their last five matches and share the same negative goal difference in the tournament so far, which speaks to considerable parity.
We believe that home advantage could be decisive for Once Caldas, which needs to pick up three points to not fall even further from the middle zone of the table. However, Llaneros FC arrives with the confidence of having picked up a recent win against a quality rival like Atlético Nacional, which could give them arguments to not play defensively at Palogrande.
Schedule and where to follow it
The match between Once Caldas and Llaneros FC will be played at Palogrande stadium with the following schedules depending on the country: Spain, Saturday October 10 at 03:10; Mexico, Friday October 9 at 19:10; Bogotá and Lima, Friday October 9 at 20:10; New York and Miami, Friday October 9 at 21:10; Buenos Aires, Friday October 9 at 22:10; and Los Angeles, Friday October 9 at 18:10.
Don't miss any detail of this First A of Colombia match. Follow the preview, lineups and all the news about the match between Once Caldas and Llaneros FC on golazoscore.com.py.
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