Monday night brings us the final round of matches in the group phase of the Copa America tournament in Brazil and features the Group A clash between Uruguay and Paraguay at the Estádio Nilton Santos in what is something of a ‘dead rubber’ as both teams have already qualified for the knockout stages.
As Bolivia sit bottom of the group with no points to their name and four points behind Uruguay.
That means that there’s seemingly nothing riding on this match but nevertheless, both Uruguay and Paraguay will be searching for greater consistency as they prepare for the knockout rounds.
Uruguay started their Copa America campaign in disappointing fashion as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat against Argentina but they’ve since recovered with a 1-1 draw against Chile and then registered a 2-0 win against basement dwellers, Bolivia.
Interestingly, all of Uruguay’s three group matches to date have resulted in low-scoring affairs with each being under the 2.5 goal mark while each of their last six matches overall in all competitions have also resulted in under 2.5 goals as well.
Paraguay have enjoyed a fairly successful Copa America campaign to date having registered important wins over Bolivia 3-1 and a 2-0 victory against Chile.
Although they too suffered defeat against Argentina, losing 1-0, this was against the current Group A leaders so that was no disgrace.
Goals have also been scarce though where Paraguay have been concerned as six of their last eight matches overall in all competitions have resulted in under 2.5 goals and three of these last eight matches have also resulted in draws.
This recent eight-match sequence also includes the last encounter between Uruguay and Paraguay which ended in a 0-0 stalemate in a World Cup qualifier earlier this month, so perhaps we shouldn’t expect too many goals in this upcoming clash either.
Paraguay’s leading goalscorer is Angel Romero (2 goals) while Uruguay’s forwards, Cavani and Suarez, have only managed a goal apiece to date so far in this year’s tournament.
Four of the previous six meetings between Uruguay and Paraguay have resulted in under 2.5 goals and another low-scoring affair looks to be on the cards here on Monday night as well in a clash that could end up all square.