Paraguay stumbles in Uruguay and redeems itself in Ecuador

This past week, we had two away games before Uruguay and Ecuador.

We only brought back one point, but since no one won all six points that were in play, we are still comfortably leading by four points.

After our defeat in Uruguay and considering how well Ecuador played against Brazil, our prospects of bringing points back from Ecuador didn’t look so good.

Paraguay had absolutely no obligation of bringing points back from either game. Paraguay has the obligation of winning all its home games. The points we bite on the road are extra credit. We have already won plenty of extra credit points against Peru, Chile, Colombia, and Argentina. Our remaining home games include Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, and Colombia. I can’t promise any Bolivian-like tennis scores, but we should be able to keep most of these points at home. We are also likely to continue to bring points from our away games (Brazil and Venezuela remain).

Losing these two games would not have been the end of the world!

Uruguay
Without a doubt, this has been our worst game. The Albirroja was truly unrecognizable against a Uruguayan team which defended flawlessly and severely punished our errors.

Marcelo Estigarribia. This player had an excellent performance in the friendly game against France, but this time he was very disappointing. He will have to do a lot of convincing before coming back on.

Miguel Samudio. This is an interesting player, who came on in the second half. It was his first international appearance and he looked solid and productive. He can play again any time Morel is out.

Paulo da Silva. He had a bad day and both goals came through him. Paulo I forgive you. You have a lot of credit but please don’t waste anymore!

This was the first time we were down in these World Cup Qualifiers and it was a good test of our reaction. Unfortunately, we did not have one. We have been down against England, Germany, and Sweden in World Cup games and if we ever want to get further we have to able to turn games around when we are down! We did not look promising in Uruguay.

Ecuador
What I didn’t like against Uruguay is precisely what I liked against Ecuador. We finally saw an Albirroja that honestly tried to tie a game at a difficult venue. The second half substitutions, Osvaldo Martinez, the “Pajaro” Benitez, and Carlos Bonet gave Paraguay enough strength to push Ecuador back. The “Pajaro” warned Ecuador twice before scoring.

With a lot of balls and a little luck, Salvador Cabanas paved the way to an equalizer, two and a half minutes into stoppage time. Watch Salvador’s effort in the beginning of the video below.

Cabanas has once again proven to be our most important, game-changing man.

Fuerza Albirroja!

Un abrazo,