Argentina’s controversial loss to Paraguay

Argentina in Asuncion. He imagined it anew Paraguay by Gustavo Alfaro as very complex. And so it was. The world champion did not even take advantage of the opening fast match in the clash of the World Cup Qualifiers. The thing is that the albiceleste started to win, but then they did not find clarity in attack or stability to defend. The redhead outclassed him in all aspects of the game, hitting fair and enjoying more than fair success.

Paraguay confirmed its growth since Alfaro’s arrival. There are already five games, with three wins (against Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina) and two draws (with Ecuador and Uruguay), with pure solidity, with effort, with cunning, with variations to create danger .

Meanwhile, the world champion and leader of the South American Qualifiers began to raise some questions more than anything else in the delicate clashes. De visitante, before this defeat, had lost with Colombia and had tied with Venezuela. It was not possible to replace Angel Di María’s flashes. Le viene faltando más juego y generación en el mediocampo. A wake-up call for Lionel Scaloni.

Argentina approached the match with its stellar formation and a 4-3-3, which included Lionel Messi, Lautaro Martínez and Julián Álvarez (left) as an attacking trident, all against a 4-4-2 with very tight line Suggested by Paraguay, thinking to leave quickly to take advantage of gaps in the speed of Miguel Almirón.

Great goal by Antonio Sanabria

The world champion has the ball. Property statistics are won by landslides, with almost 80%. However, it’s difficult for him to translate that trait into scoring situations. Paraguay knows how to buckle down on the sly. Furthermore, Argentina quickly took the lead from high pressure with a cut and quick assist from Enzo Fernández for Lautaro, who controlled and nailed a left-footer into a corner. This is not an elaborate construction…

The complexity of the match can be seen in another fact: having less ball, Paraguay created more scoring opportunities than Argentina. He didn’t deserve to lose when Lautaro scored. And then he tied it quickly with a startling pirouette by Antonio Sanabria, seconds after Gustavo Gómez had rattled the crossbar with a towering header.

It is difficult for Messi to influence the game. Paraguay knows how to surround it. His talent was noticed in two actions that led to infractions by Omar Alderete, who was cautioned in the first and had to be sent off for a double yellow in the second, but the Brazilian referee Anderson Daronco, a specialist in ‘removing’ matches , chose not to be unfriendly to Guarani territory. If the regulations were applied, Paraguay would have to finish the first half with a man down.

Furthermore, Alderete, after saving himself from the dismissal he deserved, at the very beginning of the second half, scored the second Paraguayan goal with a solo cross header. Argentina no sólo contaba con problemas para attackar sino también para defender.

Lacking ideas, Lionel Scaloni tried to provide freshness and imbalance in attack with Alejandro Garnacho coming in for the little influential Alexis Mac Allister. And later, near the end, as a reference to the place he chose Valentín Castellanos instead of Julián Álvarez who, focused on the left, did not weigh.

The point is that throughout the second half Argentina only came to a counterattack where Rodrigo De Paul was one-on-one and shot into the sky. In addition, there was a shot from outside of Messi that was deflected by a rival and passed around and a head shot from Castellanos that was next to a pole. No one else. Las formas de esas acciones exhiben la falta de lucidez albiceleste. Paraguay always played the game they wanted and won it very well.

TECHNICAL SHEET

2 – Paraguay: Junior Fernandez; Gustavo Velázquez, Gustavo Gómez, Omar Alderete, Junior Alonso, Andrés Cubas, Damián Bobadilla (m.81, Mathías Villasanti), Diego Gómez (m.72, Ángel Romero), Miguel Almirón (m.89, Alejandro Romero), Julio Enciso (m.81, Ramón Sosa) and Antonio Sanabria (m.72. Isidro Pitta)
1 – Argentina: Emiliano Martínez; Nahuel Molina (m.76, Gonzalo Montiel), Cristian Romero (m.45, Leonardo Balerdi), Nicolás Otamendi, Nicolás Tagliafico, Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernández (m.76, Leandro Paredes), Mac Allister (m.62, Alejandro Garnacho ), Lionel Messi, Julián Álvarez (m.85, Mariano Castellanos) and Lautaro Martínez.
Objectives: 0-1, Lautaro Martínez (m. 11); 1-1, Antonio Sanabria (m. 18); 2-1, Omar Alderete (m. 47)
Referee: The Brazilian Anderson Daronco sanctioned Omar Alderete, Andrés Cubas and Isidro Pitta. Nicolás Otamendi also saw yellow for Argentina.
Incidents: Battle for the eleventh date of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, played at the Defensores del Chaco stadium in Asunción, in front of around 35,000 spectators.