Santa Clara take on the visitors Torreense in the round 1 match of Liga Portugal 2. The match will be played on Wednesday, August 16th at Estádio de São Miguel (Ponta Delgada).
Santa Clara dramatically declined last season. The "Azoreans" seemed to have reached their peak form. In 2021, they even climbed to the 6th position, earning the opportunity to play in the Conference League (where they defeated Shkupi and Olimpija from Ljubljana, and had 2-1 and 0-2 matches against Partizan). They only dropped one position in the following season. However, they then suffered a clear setback, gaining only 22 points in 34 matches and finishing in the 18th, last place. It's clear that many players left after that, but there are also plenty of newcomers. In the new season, the team started with a penalty shootout defeat in the League Cup after a goalless draw.
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Torreense is in its 2nd season in this division. The "Red and Blues" reached their peak in the 1950s - they reached the cup final and climbed to the 7th position in Portugal's top division. However, it was only in 2022 that the team managed to climb out of the country's third league. With 44 points in 34 matches, they finished the spring season exactly in the middle of the table, 9th out of 18. In the summer, they made significant changes to their squad. They started with a setback, losing 0-2 at home. However, this was only in the League Cup, and they faced a strong and ambitious Casa Pia, which scored in the late stages of the 1st and midway through the 2nd leg.
This will be the first encounter between these two clubs; they have consistently been in different divisions of Portugal. Santa Clara is considered the clear favorite since they are playing on their home turf. However, neither they nor their opponent impressed in the League Cup. So, let's go with "total under 2.5 goals."
Prediction for the match: Under 2.5 scored goals.
