Copa Sudamericana Final 2023: Setting the stage for a balanced clash between pragmatic Fortaleza and Ecuadorian giants LDU Quito – tactical preview

Fortaleza will face LDU Quito this Saturday in the Copa Sudamericana 2023 Final at the Municipal Domingo Burgueño Miguel in Maldonado, Uruguay.

On one side, we have a historical Brazilian club who is eighth in the Brasileirão and who only was defeated once in this South American competition. They have the best attack (27 goals) scored against nine suffered in 12 games played, which is a very good register in this competition. In his third season as head coach of Fortaleza, Juan Pablo Vojvoda is doing his best season so far with 38 wins, 11 draws and 18 defeats in 57 games disputed in all competitions.

On the other, we have the twelve-time champion of Ecuador, LDU Quito, who surpassed two teams in the knockout stage through penalties. Luis Zubeldía took over this side last year, and hes doing quite well with 19 wins, 11 draws and only four defeats in this seasons 34 games disputed. At Copa Sudamericana, LDU has two defeats, four draws and seven wins, with a goal difference of 22-7.

In this tactical analysis, well try to understand what are both teams philosophies and ideas. We also want to highlight each teams strengths and vulnerabilities, as well as ways they could potentially harm one another

We also leave you with some potential line-ups:

Fortaleza (4-2-3-1): J. Ricardo; Tinga (C); Brítez; Titi; Pacheco; C. Alexandre; Welison; Pikachu; Pochettino; Guilherme; Lucero;

LDU Quito (4-3-3): Domínguez; Quinteros; Ade; Rodríguez; Quiñónez; Piovi(C); Martínez; Julio; Ibarra; Alvarado; Guerrero;

Fortaleza

Vojvodas idea of a game is based on a patience game while in possession, whereby flowing the ball between the different sectors of the pitch and having the attackers deep creates space to progress. As we can see above, Fortalezas game plan is split into two main formations: 4-2-3-1 while attacking and a 4-4-2 without possession.

Lets start with Fortalezas on-the-ball approach, where they prefer to build from the back in a three-man line, which is typically composed of the two centre-backs plus the right-back Tinga.