Paraguay Football Fans

The Brazilian national team have qualified for the forthcoming World Cup in Russia at the expense of Paraguay.

Tite supervised the eighth straight victory in the Copa America World Cup qualification series as the five-time champions register their hopes of retaking their spot in international football.The result was not enough to confirm the qualification but the shocking defeat Uruguay suffered in the hands of Peru sealed the hope for Brazil.

Four sides are to automatically make the World Cup from Copa America and as it stands Brazil’s 33 points would be enough to earn them a spot even if they lose the rest of the games. Colombia is the closest rival but they are nine points out. Uruguay and Chile have garnered 23 points each while Argentina ranked fifth with 22 points.

“My greatest joy is sharing joy. When you look at the face of your family, when you see the players happy, when you see a happy little child, sharing joy is my greatest satisfaction. More pleasure,” an overjoyed Tite said after the qualification was sealed.

Barcelona star and skipper for the Brazilian side Neymar missed a penalty but he got a goal after a Philippe Coutinho opener. Real Madrid defender Marcelo added the third late in the game to complete the 3-0 rout.

Paraguay coach Juan Carlos Arce blamed the referee for the way the match went.

“The refereeing was bad today. It is a shame – Brazil does not need it,” he said.

Elsewhere, Argentina received bad news as Lionel Messi was banned for four games for swearing at a linesman. They are hoping to get the decision turned as that might end their World Cup hopes. For now, the rest of the slots are open as the points’ differences are minor.

Chiapas player Jonathan Fabbro might not have expected it but his model girlfriend Larissa Riquelme has said that she would strip naked if the team reaches the final in the Mexican League, according to reports.

This is not the first time Larissa was making such promises. During the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the model said she would strip naked if Fabbro and his Paraguayan teammates won the tournament. She promised a nude photo and delivered during the tournament even though the South American side were knocked out in the quarterfinal stage.

“It will be a present to all the players, and for all the people in Paraguay to enjoy. They tried as hard as possible and gave it their all on the field,” she said as reasons for releasing the nude photos.

This time she is taking it a notch higher by promising to include her partner if the club reaches the final after a fan asked her on TV. However going by her antecedent, Riquelme may go ahead to post the pictures even if they do not reach the final as she said.

The upcoming edition of Copa Libertadores is going to be bigger than the previous editions and there will be quite a few sides taking part in this competition for the first time this season.

Capiata’s rise to the continental competition is absolutely extraordinary because it’s a very young club. It’s actually only 9 years back that it had come to existence.

There is surely an element of luck involved in Capiata making it to Libertadores. It was not among the first three teams that had earned the direct qualification to the competition from Paraguay.

But, the spot opened up for Capiata when the Football association of Mexico decided that it wouldn’t be sending any of its teams as the schedule of the matches of its domestic league was conflicting with the schedule of Libertadores.

Because of that, a few vacancies got created in the competition and to fill that, one more spot was given to some of the other countries including Paraguay and that one spot given to Paraguay went to Capiata.

Actually the total no. of vacancies created by Mexico’s absence was three, but, the extra spots were given to 6 countries. It means that 6 teams got the entry and the format is such that there will be three qualifying ties between those 6 teams and the teams which end up winning those ties will proceed to the main competition.

Capiata’s tie has been set against Tachira, a team which plays in the Venezuela top tier.

The Libertadores has obviously lost some of its colour by no Mexico representation, but, from Capiata’s point of view, they wouldn’t mind that because it gives them the opportunity to showcase themselves at the continental level and that too within a decade of their creation. That boggles mind.

The CONMEBOL group of the qualifying stages for the 2018 FIFA World Cup is being extremely contested with: Brazil, Uruguay, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia and Venezuela all attempting to snatch a top 5 spot that would allow them to advance into the next rounds of the approaching worldwide competition.

Arce’s first managerial stint in charge of Paraguay occurred on July of 2011 but he was sacked on June of 2012, the main reason of why Francisco Arce was removed at such a quick time lapse was due to the poor results that he and his squad secured in their campaign for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

The 45 year old Paraguayan manager was recently given a 2nd chance to make it happen with the Paraguay national side but it will be extremely difficult as there are many other competent national sides that are competing in the CONMEBOL which are also attempting to snatch a top spot.

“I accept that our first time was not good. We have acquired more solidity in the five years that have passed.” Paraguay’s Francisco Arce said as he stated that the national side is better than they were a few years ago.

Brazil is leading the way at the top of the CONMEBOL group with 27 points; Uruguay is sitting in 2nd place with 23 points, Ecuador is located in the 3rd spot with 20 points, Chile is also tied with 20 points but with a worse goal difference and the last qualifying spot is being occupied by Argentina with 19 points. Paraguay is at the 7th spot with 15 points after 12 qualifying matches.

There are still 6 qualifying matches left to be played which is enough time for Paraguay or any of the other national sides that are struggling to make a push for the top positions.