El Salvador welcome Saint Kitts and Nevis to the Estadio Cuscatlan in San Salvador this week for the second leg of their World Cup qualifier against the Caribbean nation.
El Salvador come into this game in high spirits after they won the first leg 4-0, making the game this week all but decided, provided Saint Kitts do not stage an unbelievable comeback.
Match preview
El Salvador are within touching distance of beating Saint Kitts following their first-leg heroics.
Tony Rugamas, Joshua Perez and Darwin Ceren were all on target for the national team in that tie.
Dominant throughout, El Salvador were 3-0 up within 20 minutes and had registered ten shots on target by the end of the 90 minutes.
Head coach Hugo Perez will hope his men can keep up the momentum as his side go into this game and for what follows.
Saint Kitts will be disappointed with how the first leg went, with the team performing well in group qualification.
However, Leonardo Neiva's men were just not up to scratch against El Salvador, with the team managing just one shot on target, 288 passes and coming away with only 33% of the possession.
Still, although the tie is finished on paper, the Caribbean nation has 90 minutes to pull off something miraculous.
Neiva's men have suffered defeat in their two most recent matches without scoring, though, so their attackers must find their shooting boots as a matter of urgency.
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Team News
El Salvador are unlikely to tinker too much to the starting eleven, although some younger players may get a chance to prove themselves during the course of the game.
Rugamas is expected to lead the line for the team, while Ceren and Perez could also flank the frontman.
It is also unlikely that Saint Kitts will line up any differently, with Neiva certain that this is his best side.
Vinceroy Nelson and Rowan Liburd could both get some minutes after making cameo appearances last time out.
El Salvador possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Tamacas, Zavaleta, Gomez, Larin; Perez, Ceren, Portillo, Monterrosa, Rivas; Rugamas
Saint Kitts and Nevis possible starting lineup:
Archibald; Leader, Maynard, Williams, Flemming; James, Mitchum; Somersall, Sawyers, Freeman; Panaylotou
We say: El Salvador 2-0 Saint Kitts and Nevis
With the game just about done and dusted, we do not expect Saint Kitts to overturn the result, and El Salvador will likely continue with the assault.
Top tip
Francis Buchanan
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a El Salvador win with a probability of 48.32%. A win for Saint Kitts and Nevis had a probability of 28.29% and a draw had a probability of 23.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a El Salvador win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.45%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.31%) and 2-0 (7.3%). The likeliest Saint Kitts and Nevis win was 1-2 (6.96%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.75%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 7.3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that El Salvador would win this match.
