PARAGUAY v ECUADOR
Thursday 23rd March 2017 – Kickoff: 2000hrs
Football – World Cup – CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifier Betting Tips
The South American CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers re-commence on Thursday and my first pick in this South American group features Paraguay taking on third placed Ecuador in a match where the hosts will need to make home advantage count.
Paraguay suffered defeat last time out back in November when they lost 1-0 away at second from bottom Bolivia, and having lost four of their last five qualifiers, tonight’s hosts look to have their work cut out if they’re to grab a top four place in order to qualify for the World Cup finals.
Paraguay’s one redemption during this poor five-match phase was a 1-0 win at Argentina, but they’ve lost their last two home matches on the trot with defeats to Colombia and Peru – the latter being a heavy 4-1 humiliation.
Ecuador look to be strongly placed to progress to the World Cup finals as they sit in third position in the CONMEBOL qualifying group with just six matches remaining of this phase. However, they only hold a single point lead ahead of fifth placed Argentina who will definitely be looking to qualify automatically rather than have to go through a play-off against the Oceania winner.
Ecuador’s recent matches have seen them record 3-0 home wins over Chile and Venezuela respectively along with a 2-2 draw away at Bolivia. However, they’ve also lost at Colombia, Peru and Uruguay on their travels, so a point here this evening would be considered a better result.
Like Paraguay, Ecuador have also caused an upset with a 2-0 win at Argentina earlier in the campaign, and they’ve avoided defeat in their last two meetings with Paraguay, drawing 2-2 and winning 4-1 with both matches in Ecuador.
Pick: Ecuador AH+0.5 @ 1.61 Unibet
