La Albirroja beat the Bolivians 1-0, who have accumulated four defeats
The Paraguayans add four points that climb to seventh place
Striker Arnaldo ‘Tony’ Sanabria scored this Tuesday the only goal with which the national team Paraguay surpassed Bolivia on the fourth day of the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. With this result, those led by Daniel Garnero added their first victory in the competition and reached four points in the standings. In addition, La Albirroja ended an extensive scoring drought in South American World Cup qualifiers. The last time he had scored a goal was on March 25, 2022, when he beat Ecuador 3-1 in qualifying for Qatar 2022.
The home team took control of the ball from the start of the match and marked a clear offensive trend that lasted throughout the match. The La Verde coach, the Argentine Gustavo Costas, did not want to risk more than he had to and prepared a five-man defensive line. For his part, the Paraguayan coach opted for an offensive lineup, with Miguel Almirón, Alejandro Romero Gamarra and Ramón Sosa, accompanying Adam Bareiro up front. Sosa had the clearest play of the first half in the 24th minute, in a one-on-one matchup with Bolivian goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra, but he did not know how to define correctly.
Costas brought on Yeison Chura and Gabriel Villamil to replace Hector Cuella and Rodrigo Ramallo, respectively, at the start of the second half. The Bolivian team defended as best they could against a Guaraní team that was already showing nervousness on the field.
Garnero changed Romero Gamarra for Gabriel Ávalos to refresh the lead and, on the first ball he touched, the Argentinos Juniors striker sent the ball into the back of the rival goal. However, Uruguayan judge Gustavo Tejer invalidated the action because the attacker touched the ball with his hand before finishing the play. Shortly after, Almirón found himself alone against Viscarra, but he scored very high.
It seemed that the Guaraní scoring drought would extend, given the lack of aim of their players to finish. But in the 69th minute Sanabria He had his first contact with the ball on the grass and scored a goal that made the fans present in the stands of the Defensores del Chaco stadium explode with joy.
Nothing changed until the final whistle in Tejer, to the joy of the Paraguayans and the sadness of a Bolivian team that suffered its fourth consecutive defeat in the competition.