Wednesday morning brings the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana playoff round, with Nacional de Montevideo at home to Tigre. Nacional have generally been strong on their own ground recently, while Tigre are on a long winless run away from home, so the hosts are favored to seize the initiative in the tie.
Nacional de Montevideo have shown a dip in form since the start of July, taking just one point from two league matches with one draw and one defeat. Looking back at their continental campaign this season, they collected eight points from six Copa Libertadores group-stage matches and finished third in Group B, which sent them into the Copa Sudamericana playoff round. Notably, they posted two wins and one draw from three home games in that group, with a 4-1 goal difference, underlining the reliability of their home defense. Maxi Gomez has been Nacional's main scorer this season with 14 goals in all competitions, including three in the Libertadores, and he could be the man to break the deadlock here.
With the Copa Sudamericana playoff round and the Argentine Primera Division both starting up, Tigre are about to face a schedule of two matches per week. That will be a test for a side that have played only once since June. In this season's Copa Sudamericana group stage, Tigre recorded two wins, three draws and one defeat from six matches to finish second in Group A and reach the playoff round. However, what hurts them most ahead of this trip is that they have not won an away match for five months. They also drew all three of their away games in this season's Copa Sudamericana, and with so little cutting edge on the road, this looks like a difficult assignment.