Argentina travel to Paraguay this week as both teams look to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. Argentina will aim to do so in first place in the South American qualifying group, while Paraguay are battling it out for the fifth spot.
Paraguay are currently in some of their best form in recent history, having beaten Brazil and drawn against Uruguay in September. The side prides itself in their ability to keep out even the best attackers, and while they don’t score many, they haven’t really needed to.
Argentina’s recent form has included a loss against Colombia and a draw against Venezuela, however that result was followed up by a 6-0 thrashing of Bolivia. Their closest competition in these qualifiers has been Colombia who sit three points behind them in second.
Paraguay Predicted Lineup - Gatito Fernandez; Junior Alonso, Omar Alderete, Gustavo Gomez, Juan Caceres; Diego Gomez, Andres Cubas; Ramon Sosa, Julio Enciso, Miguel Almiron; Isidro Pitta
The Paraguay national team has a strong make up of experience and youth across the pitch. Brighton’s Julio Enciso may only be 20 years old, but he already has 21 caps to his name. Considering that he was injured for a lot of last season, that is mightily impressive.
Despite the fact that he tends not to start anymore, Antonio Sanabria is definitely an exciting player to watch. The Torino forward scored twice against Venezuela last month, in what has been his only appearance for the national team this year.
Argentina Predicted Lineup - Emiliano Martinez; Nicolas Tagliafico, Nicolas Otamendi, Cristian Romero, Nahuel Molina; Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernandez, Rodrigo De Paul; Julian Alvarez, Lautaro Martinez, Lionel Messi
It would take a historic collapse for Argentina to not qualify for the World Cup in 2026, however that doesn’t mean that they won’t put out a strong squad. The reigning champions have a vast talent pool to choose from, but the tried and tested squad of 2022 will most likely be relatively unchanged.
Lionel Messi is obviously the player to watch in this match. The 37-year-old has scored 112 times for Argentina, including a hattrick in the last match against Bolivia. As well as him, Facundo Buonanotte could make his third appearance for the national team, and Alejandro Garnacho could also get some minutes too.
Throughout history, Argentina has been much more dominant in fixtures involving the two sides. Recently however, that has been made a lot more difficult by Paraguay, who have managed to close the gap between themselves and the World Champions.
12th Oct 2023 - Argentina 1-0 Paraguay - World Cup Qualifying
7th Oct 2021 - Paraguay 0-0 Argentina - World Cup Qualifying
21st Jun 2021 - Argentina 1-0 Paraguay - Copa America
12th Nov 2020 - Argentina 1-1 Paraguay - World Cup Qualifying
19th Jun 2019 - Argentina 1-1 Paraguay - Copa America
Argentina are top of the table currently, but that does not mean that they will have it all easy in this game. Paraguay are known for making games difficult and even getting points off some of the bigger teams in South America. Considering the distance some of the Argentinian players have had to travel over recent days, I think this game could end up being quite laboured.
With all of this in mind, our team of professional experts have decided that the best tip for this game is for a Full-Time Draw + Under 2.5 Goals. Odds of 13/5 on Parimatch means that a £10 bet could see a potential return of £36.
(odds subject to change)
Paraguay 0-0 Argentina
Elsewhere is South America, Flamengo face Atletico MG and Botafogo SP host Ceara.
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