Botafogo SP v Juventude — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Serie B · Friday, 24 July 2026. Final score 4–2 (half-time 2–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 38% 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 goals38%62%Under
Over 3.5 goals16%84%no pick
Both teams to score46%54%No

The result model puts Botafogo SP at 39%, the draw at 31% and Juventude at 29%, from expected goals of 1.12 and 0.92.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Serie B has produced over 2.5 goals in 41% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Botafogo SP have 7 in 18 this season (5 of 8 at home), Juventude 4 in 18 (2 of 8 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 40% and 33%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 18 and 18 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 38% and 33%.

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 37%.

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 33%, from expected goals of 1.12 for Botafogo SP and 0.92 for Juventude. Folding in 30% of that view gives 36%.

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 38%.

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
Botafogo SP1839%17%50%
Juventude1822%0%17%

Head to head

29 Jul 23Botafogo SP 0–2 JuventudeU2.5
15 Apr 23Juventude 1–2 Botafogo SPO2.5

More: Botafogo SP season stats · Juventude season stats · Serie B table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.