The South American section of qualification for next year’s World Cup is very tight. Two teams hoping to secure their place at Russia 2018 are Paraguay and Uruguay, who meet in Asuncion on Wednesday.
Such is the nature of the group, Paraguay in seventh position sit just three points behind third-place Uruguay in the standings. However, with three games to go Paraguay cannot afford to lose this clash.
The home side are currently two points behind Chile who occupy the last automatic spot and Argentina who are in the play-off spot. A win over the visitors would make them real contenders for an automatic qualification spot.
However, Paraguay have been wildly inconsistent in qualifying, having won two and lost three of their last five qualifiers. A 3-0 win in Chile last time out in qualifying showed just what they could do when on top form.
Even their home record is mixed of late in qualifying, though, as they have lost two of their last three qualifiers on home soil. Paraguay have also won just one of their last nine clashes with Uruguay, while the visitors are now six games unbeaten against the home side in all competitions.
Uruguay’s place at Russia 2018 is far from set in stone. A goalless draw against arch-rivals Argentina last time out did keep Oscar Tabarez’s team in the automatic qualification spots, though.
However, the draw against their great rivals means that the visitors have failed to win any of their last four World Cup qualifiers and have suffered three defeats in the process.
Tabarez’s side have also failed to win any of their last six qualifiers on their travels, claiming just two draws and suffering four defeats.
Forebet predicts that these two teams will cancel each other out and the game will finish in a draw. A point a piece would do very little to secure either nations spot at next year’s finals.