Universidad Catolica v Deportivo Cuenca — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Liga Pro · Tuesday, 17 March 2026. Final score 1–0 (half-time 0–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 44% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals44%56%Under
Over 3.5 goals24%76%no pick
Both teams to score50%50%Yes

The result model puts Universidad Catolica at 50%, the draw at 29% and Deportivo Cuenca at 21%, from expected goals of 1.32 and 0.76.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Liga Pro has produced over 2.5 goals in 44% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Universidad Catolica have 1 in 3 this season (1 of 1 at home), Deportivo Cuenca 1 in 4 (0 of 2 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 43% and 41%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 3 and 4 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 46% and 41%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 43%.

Head to head. These sides have met 6 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 83%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 45%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 35%, from expected goals of 1.32 for Universidad Catolica and 0.76 for Deportivo Cuenca. Folding in 30% of that view gives 42%.

Calibration. Tested against 97,729 past matches, our ratings below 55% have run consistently too pessimistic — a figure in the high 30s, for instance, has come in about four points higher. So ratings in that range are lifted part-way back, giving 44%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Universidad Catolica333%0%33%
Deportivo Cuenca425%0%50%

Head to head

28 Sept 25Universidad Catolica 2–1 Deportivo CuencaO2.5
1 Jun 25Deportivo Cuenca 3–1 Universidad CatolicaO2.5
18 Aug 24Deportivo Cuenca 1–2 Universidad CatolicaO2.5
17 Mar 24Universidad Catolica 3–3 Deportivo CuencaO2.5
7 Oct 23Deportivo Cuenca 2–3 Universidad CatolicaO2.5
6 May 23Universidad Catolica 1–0 Deportivo CuencaU2.5

More: Universidad Catolica season stats · Deportivo Cuenca season stats · Liga Pro table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.