Central Cordoba de Santiago v Defensa Y Justicia — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Liga Profesional · Friday, 18 September 2026. Final score 2–2 (half-time 0–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 41% 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 goals41%59%Under
Over 3.5 goals18%82%no pick
Both teams to score48%52%No

The result model puts Central Cordoba de Santiago at 42%, the draw at 27% and Defensa Y Justicia at 31%, from expected goals of 1.39 and 1.15.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Liga Profesional has produced over 2.5 goals in 34% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Central Cordoba de Santiago have 7 in 25 this season (3 of 12 at home), Defensa Y Justicia 10 in 25 (6 of 12 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 31% and 37%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 25 and 25 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 33% and 37%.

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 35%.

Head to head. These sides have met 4 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 50%. 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 36%.

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 47%, from expected goals of 1.39 for Central Cordoba de Santiago and 1.15 for Defensa Y Justicia. Folding in 30% of that view gives 39%.

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 41%.

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
Central Cordoba de Santiago2528%16%28%
Defensa Y Justicia2540%16%56%

Head to head

12 Mar 26Defensa Y Justicia 1–1 Central Cordoba de SantiagoU2.5
28 Jul 25Central Cordoba de Santiago 2–1 Defensa Y JusticiaO2.5
3 Feb 25Defensa Y Justicia 2–1 Central Cordoba de SantiagoO2.5
11 Aug 24Central Cordoba de Santiago 2–0 Defensa Y JusticiaU2.5
9 Apr 23Defensa Y Justicia 1–2 Central Cordoba de SantiagoO2.5
8 Aug 22Central Cordoba de Santiago 1–0 Defensa Y JusticiaU2.5

More: Central Cordoba de Santiago season stats · Defensa Y Justicia season stats · Liga Profesional table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.