After an exciting first round of World Cup qualifying in South America, Venezuela will welcome Paraguay to the Memorial Stadium in Maturin on Tuesday evening for a second round clash. Hosts Venezuela will be hoping to earn their first points at home in this qualifier, while visitors Paraguay believe they have a good chance of getting their first win in this match.
Venezuela are currently sitting in seventh place in the early stages of the qualifiers after a 0-1 loss at the Metropolitano Stadium on Friday evening. However, the scoreline of the match may not fully reflect the whole picture, as Venezuela was clearly outplayed for a good portion of the match, with only two shots on goal and 29% possession of the ball throughout the match.
The result was the first defeat for Fernando Batista's side in their last eight matches, and it is worth noting that their first seven matches were all friendlies, while their last four official matches have all ended in defeat.
Venezuela finished at the bottom of the table in their last World Cup qualifying campaign in South America, earning just 10 points from 18 games, with just three wins and one draw, and losing the remaining 14. Venezuela have not qualified for the World Cup since their first attempt in 1958, and given their recent performances in official matches, they will likely still face a challenge in this qualifying campaign.
Paraguay, meanwhile, were involved in the only draw in the first round of qualifiers, as they drew with the team at the Antonio Aranda Stadium on Friday night.
That result put them fifth in the qualifying table and they have also not conceded a goal in either of their last two matches, winning 2-0 against Nicaragua since June of this year.
However, whilst visitors Paraguay took a point from their last game, they are likely to see the result as a lost opportunity as they were numerically superior throughout the second half of the game but failed to score.
Guillermo Barros Schelotto's side took 19 shots, six of which were on target, but failed to score, while their opponents were unable to mount a single effective attack on their goal throughout the match.
Nonetheless, they still have a good base to build on, and they are confident about this clash as they beat Venezuela twice in their last World Cup qualifier.
To summarize, judging from both teams' recent records and form, Paraguay seems to have a better chance to win this match. They showed a strong defense in their last match, and also have a good performance on the offensive end. However, Venezuela is not to be underestimated, and their home field advantage could give Paraguay some problems. Therefore, we predict that the result of this match could be: Venezuela 0-1 Paraguay. Although the visitors Paraguay failed to make the most of their numerical advantage in their last match, their defense was remarkably cohesive and left few clear-cut chances for their opponents. We expect them to be able to score in this match and keep another clean sheet.
