The Paraguayan national team he denies it, but is uncomfortable with a streak of 27 years without beating him in Asunción to Colombia, which in turn seems to have prepared to seek the three points on the sixth day of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
On April 2, 1997, Albirroja, led by Brazilian Paulo César Carpegiani, defeated the coffee team 2-1 in a high-voltage match that ended with the expulsion of the Guaraní goalkeeper. José Luis Chilavert and coffee striker Faustino Asprilla.
Twenty-six years, ten months and nineteen days later, the Argentine coach Daniel Garnero He believes that his pupils have assimilated his idea and are ready to ratify their improvement in the South American qualifiers.
Garnero will be serving 40 days in office when meet Colombia at the Defensores del Chaco stadium. Their cycle began on October 12 with a 1-0 loss against Argentina.
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“Against Colombia we are not going to make any particular mark because the attention must be focused on all the rivals. Players like Díaz does not need many opportunities to appear and therefore what we must do is play a game so that Luis does not have his best day,” emphasized the coach born 54 years ago in Lomas de Zamora.
Since the victory over Colombia, 27 years ago, the Albirroja has collected five defeats and only a single draw, that of the qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
Paraguay occupies seventh place in the classification with 5 points out of a possible 15 and Colombia is third with 9 thanks to an outstanding performance by ‘Lucho’ Díaz last Thursday, who with two goals guaranteed his country’s first victory over Brazil in a qualifying round. globalists.
With that emotional injection, the coffee team will play in Asunción without center back Davinson Sánchez, suspended for accumulating two yellow cards. And due to an injury, left back Deiver Machado will miss the game.
To make up the defense, the Argentine coach Néstor Lorenzo will promote Carlos Cuesta, from Belgian Genk replacing Sánchez, and Cristian Borja, from the Portuguese Sporting Braga.
The third imminent novelty has to do with the return of the midfielder from Fluminense by Jhon Arias, who paid a suspension in the last game against Brazil.
The expulsion of right back Robert Rojas during the last match with Chile in Santiago will force Garnero to promote the debut of the Argentine nationalized Paraguayan Juan José Cáceres, who plays for Lanús.
In the middle of the field, the entry of Richard Sánchez for Diego Gomez.
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In the run-up to the eliminatory match, former Colombian defender and assistant coach Néstor Lorenzo Luis Amaranto Perea declared that “The players know that Brazil has already passed, “The euphoria and joy have already passed, if we want more steps forward we know that this match will not be easy at all.”
“We can confirm the moment we are experiencing, focused on Paraguay, a totally different game. It is very important to improve concentration in the first minutes against a rival who is going to come out and pressure us,” Pera said during a press conference.
Of the ten teams competing in the South American qualifiers, six will qualify directly for the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The seventh will play a repechage for another place among the 48 teams that will play in the 2026 World Cup.
