Ecuador v Paraguay

Ecuador vs Paraguay Preview

Ecuador will head into this upcoming World Cup qualifier in the South American section in confident mood having recorded a 1-0 home win against bottom placed nation Peru which in turn helped lift Ecuador up into fourth place in the table, while Paraguay also collected a valuable three points with an impressive 1-0 home win against Brazil.

Ecuador currently occupy one of the top six automatic qualification spots in the CONMEBOL table and no doubt the hosts will be looking to further cement their place in the top six when they play host to seventh placed Paraguay.

The hosts had previously stumbled to back-to-back defeats at the hands of Brazil away from home and on penalties to Argentina in the Copa America but results so far in their World Cup qualifying campaign have been pretty steady for Sebastián Beccacece's side as they have suffered just two defeats within their opening eight games of qualification.

Losses away from home at Argentina and Brazil were perhaps understandable but Ecuador have also collected vital victories in the form of four wins against Uruguay, Bolivia, Chile and Peru, three of which have been achieved on home soil.

Indeed, Ecuador have lost just once in their last 13 World Cup qualifiers on home soil whilst recording eight wins in the process.

Paraguay moved up the CONMEBOL standings into seventh place following an important 1-0 home win against an out-of-sorts Brazil outfit and only one point separates the visitors from the top six pack ahead of this upcoming encounter at the Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado.

However, a poor showing at the Copa America which consisted of three defeats at the hands of Colombia, Brazil and Costa Rica preceded a 0-0 stalemate away from home at Uruguay in their previous World Cup qualifier, so expectations may not be too high for the visitors as they make their way to Ecuador.

Indeed, Paraguay have managed to register just two wins within their opening eight World Cup qualifiers which were both achieved on home soil and both by narrow 1-0 margins against Bolivia and Brazil respectively.

Goals may also be in short supply as all eight of Paraguay's World Cup qualifiers in this current campaign have all resulted in Under 2.5 goals, while the visitors have also failed to score in six of their eight qualifiers to date as well.

To make matters worse, Paraguay have also failed to score in each of their last 12 outings on the road, failing to score in 11 of these 12 away games!

Ecuador v Paraguay Verdict

Ecuador hold the edge on home soil against Paraguay as the hosts are unbeaten in their previous seven meetings at home.

Therefore, our main bet will be Ecuador win @ 1.60

Other side bets worth considering:

Ecuador win & Under 2.5 goals @ 2.75

Correct Score: Ecuador 1-0 @ 4.50