Argentina v Paraguay: Outsiders can frustrate Messi and company

Argentina v Paraguay: Outsiders can frustrate Messi and company

Argentina are not finding goals easy to come by and Dan Fitch thinks that an underrated Paraguay side can contain them, when the two teams meet on Tuesday...

Argentina look to take back control

After two games Argentina are second in Group A and will be looking to beat Paraguay to take control of the group

In theory, Argentina have already played their two most difficult fixtures, drawing 1-1 with Chile and then beating Uruguay 1-0. Argentina are 1.43 to win Group A, ahead of Chile at 6.0, Uruguay at 6.2, Paraguay at 12.0 and Bolivia at 260.0.

Having only scored a single goal in each of their first two games, Argentina really need to flex their attacking muscles against Paraguay and Bolivia in their final two matches, in order to build some momentum. Argentina are now unbeaten in 15 matches, stretching back to July 2019 (W8 D7). The amount of drawn games, points to the problems that Argentina have in attack, with this run including a 1-1 home draw with Paraguay in a World Cup qualifier back in November last year.

Paraguay in good form

Paraguay made a winning start to life in Group A and have since had a week of recovery, ahead of a period of challenging fixtures.

With four of the five teams in the group going through, the 3-1 win over Bolivia may well prove to be enough for Paraguay to make the quarter-finals, regardless of how they fare in their next three fixtures. Not that Paraguay don't have every reason to be confident. Brazil are the only nation to have beaten them, in their last ten games (W3 D6).

This run includes the aforementioned away draw in Argentina and a 0-0 draw away at Uruguay. Paraguay are sixth in the standings for World Cup qualification and third in Group A at the time of writing.

Argentina finding goals hard to come by

Argentina are the 1.54 favourites, with the draw at 4.1 and Paraguay out at 8.6.

While Argentina are worthy favourites, they look too short, considering that both teams draw a lot of games and with their last meeting ending in a stalemate. Argentina are struggling to score goals and Paraguay have only conceded nine goals in their last ten games. Under 2.5 goals looks like a relatively safe bet at 1.8 and will cover you for the possibility of a low scoring draw.

Should you fancy an Argentinian win, back them alongside under 2.5 goals and the odds swell to 3.25.