Washington (dpa)
Seven months after their last meeting, the date will be renewed again between the Colombian and Paraguayan national teams, when they meet in the South American Football Championship “Copa America”.
The Paraguayan national team will face its Colombian counterpart on Monday evening, at the beginning of their matches in the fourth group of the group stage of the continental competition, which also includes the Brazilian and Costa Rica national teams, at NRG Stadium in Houston.
This confrontation comes after the two teams previously met in the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, last November, when Colombia won 1-0 over its host Paraguay.
The Colombian national team enters the Copa America tournament, maintaining its unbeaten record in 23 consecutive matches, and its last victory over Bolivia was 3-0 in a friendly match in the middle of this month, while the Paraguay national team won in its previous confrontation 1-0 over Panama, as part of its preparations for the competition as well. .
The Colombians have great confidence before entering this tournament, as they have not lost any international match in more than two years, and their last defeat dates back to February 2022, when they fell 0-1 to Argentina.
The team of Argentine coach Nestor Lorenzo achieved 8 consecutive victories in various tournaments, and during the four matches it played in 2024, its players scored 12 goals, while they conceded only 3 goals.
In those four matches it played this year, Colombia did not trail behind in the score even for a single minute, as it won 6 consecutive matches, when its players opened the scoring. The Colombian national team demonstrated its composure when it fell behind, after winning its previous three matches during which it conceded the opening goal.
Although things have gone well since Lorenzo took over, Colombian fans have witnessed a similar story before, when the team lost only one match out of the 33 matches it played before the 1994 World Cup in the United States, before it suddenly collapsed in that version of the World Cup. He exits early from the group stage. Colombia won its opening match in each of the last three editions of Copa America, including a 2-0 victory over the “host” United States team in 2016.
On the other hand, the Paraguayan national team has something that it can build on before participating in that edition of Copa America, as it won the last preparatory match in preparation for the competition against its Panamanian counterpart, which witnessed its first victory in 2024. The victory over Panama came to end the Paraguayan national team’s winless streak. Which continued in his previous four matches, during which his players were unable to score at all.
The Paraguay national team achieved its last three victories, after its players were able to score without conceding any goals during these matches.
In its previous appearance in the Copa America on American soil in 2016, the Paraguayan national team was eliminated from the group stage and failed to achieve any victory, while scoring only one goal.
Argentine Daniel Garnero took over as coach of the Paraguay national team with attacking intentions, although his players often tended to clump defensively and launch counterattacks on opponents, as the team conceded a goal or less in 9 meetings in its past ten matches.
The Paraguay national team is looking for its first victory over Colombia in the last 4 confrontations between them, and has not won any victory against its opponent since it defeated it 5-0 in the 2007 edition. In general, the two teams met in 49 matches in all competitions, and the Colombia national team achieved 23 wins, versus 18 victories for Paraguay, while the same draw was imposed in 8 matches.
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