Paraguay had a hell of a qualifying run, leading the South American group of 10 teams through the first half of the 18 matches. They defeated Brazil at home and drew with Argentina away. Later they went on to defeat Argentina in the home match. A home loss to Colombia kept them out of first place in South America, although only a win would have put them in first, a draw being enough to have equaled Brazil on points, but not on goal difference. This is a team that could even upset Italy. They open group play against each other and Paraguay will be playing hard for the win, I'm sure.
Slovakia just beat out Slovenia for first place in their qualifying group. I wouldn't underestimate their ability to surprise Paraguay. I'd say their match will determine second place in the group. I'd expect Slovakia to lose to Italy and defeat New Zealand. If Paraguay loses their opener to Italy they'll absolutely need a win in their second match against Slovakia, who'll likely be coming off a win over New Zealand and not wanting to go into their Italy match needing 3 points. Slovakia-Parguay on 20 June will be a match to watch.
New Zealand is in this tournament by virtue of the fact that Australia now plays in the Asian Zone. They had to defeat football powerhouses like New Caledonia, Fiji and Vanuatu. Fiji were the only team to take points off them in a 2-0 defeat on the final qualifying day. Because Oceania only gets half a spot in the WC Finals, the Kiwis had to play off against the the fifth placed Asian team, Bahrain. In last year's Confederations Cup they didn't score a single goal with losses to Spain (5-0) and South Africa and a 0-0 draw with Iraq. I don't see them taking a single point in this group. Sorry Kiwis.
Italy 7
Paraguay 5
Slovakia 4
New Zealand 0
No comments:
Post a Comment