Another double header of action takes place in the Copa America on Sunday evening with matches from Group B and C on what could be an entertaining evening of football. It gets underway with former winners Paraguay taking on the invited nation of Qatar.
Both sides have Argentina and Colombia to play later in the group stage so a winning start will be very welcome here. Qatar arrive here as the Asia Cup winners and it will be interesting to see what they have at this level.
Paraguay
Throughout history, Paraguay are one of the more successful nations in this competition but expectation around them this year is quite low. They have the ideal chance to change that in their opening match against the team expected to be the weakest in this section. Given that the harder two games are to come, this is a contest Paraguay need to win but certainly can’t afford to lose which could create some uncertainty in their minds.
Paraguay haven’t been in great form in recent times. They did beat Guatemala in their last outing but that doesn’t feel like much of a form guide to me. More of a concern are draws to Honduras and South Africa in past outings. There isn’t that dynamism to this Paraguay side these days which puts a lot of pressure on their defence but they will need more than just a defence here.
Qatar
I guess in many ways we will find out just how good Qatar are over the next couple of weeks. There is a lot of hype around them after their amazing Asia Cup win although even then I suspect most feel that was a one-off rather than any new norm. That said though, they are the hosts of the next World Cup which often gets a team focused for a big period of footballing excellence by their own standards so they could surprise us.
I saw a few of Qatar’s matches in that tournament and indeed their warm up match against Brazil here and the one thing I noticed was the freedom and comfort they play with on the ball. They are going to concede goals in this tournament but you wouldn’t rule out them finding the net along the way too. That will be their task in hand here.
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Team News
There is no Roque Santa Cruz for Paraguay in this tournament so their main hope from an attacking point of view could centre round the Newcastle United ace Miguel Almiron, who is expected to start despite injury cutting his English campaign short.
Qatar have named an entirely domestically based squad for this tournament. Hassan Al-Haydos and Almoez Ali are likely to be their main dangers from an attacking sense while Abdelkarim Hassan is experienced at the back.
Betting
Having seen a little bit of Qatar I’m not convinced I would be backing them to keep clean sheets in this tournament and I’m not much more certain that I like the idea of Paraguay faring any better in that department either so I’m expecting to see some goals in this one for a couple of reasons to be honest.
Firstly there is the defensive frailties issue but also if you look at what is to come both teams must surely be thinking this is a match they have to win if they are going to progress. That should see a more open game and with the goal line once again being just two for this contest I can’t resist a punt on the over at a more than acceptable price.
Tips
WON – Back Over 2 goals for a 4/10 stake at 1.84 with 888sport
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