Paraguay unleashed a quick two-goal barrage to shock Copa America Centenario champions Chile, 2-1, on Thursday night in Asuncion. Francisco Arce impressed in his first outing back at the helm of the Paraguayan selection, overseeing goals from Oscar Romero and captain Paulo Da Silva in the sixth and ninth minutes to seize a crucial three points in CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying play.
Despite a deficit-halving goal by Arturo Vidal in the 36th minute, Chile couldn't dig itself out of the early hole and failed to record a shot on goal in the second half. A red card to defender and interim captain Gary Medel in stoppage time was the nail in the coffin as Juan Antonio Pizzi's men dropped back under the World Cup qualification line with their third loss in seven appearances.
Goalkeeper and captain Claudio Bravo was not available for Pizzi, leaving Cristopher Toselli as the starter in La Roja's net. Vidal, Alexis Sanchez, and Eduardo Vargas were, however, all in the lineup, and while Chile's chances were few and far between, each member of the trio came awfully close to scoring. Yet only Vidal saw his efforts result in a goal.
Two goals in first ten minutes do the job for Paraguay
For Paraguay, attacking sets came in bunches. Romero opened the scoring with a brilliant strike from quite a ways outside the box in the sixth minute, profiting off Jorge Moreira's interception of a hospital ball by Vidal in Paraguay's attacking third. Moreira relayed the ball to Romero on his left, who took one touch forward and launched a fireball past Toselli to make it 1-0.
The hosts didn't lay off the pressure there, converting a corner three minutes later to double their lead. Federico Santander headed Victor Ayala's cross downwards towards Paulo Da Silva at point-blank range, and from there, the captain took care of business, easily beating Toselli to make it 2-0.
Chile pulls one back but the hosts hold on
Chile's first chance to pull one back came in the form of an extravagant bicycle kick by Vargas, one nicely parried away by Diego Barreto. 11 minutes later, Barreto was given no chance, as Vidal cleanly tucked away a Charles Aranguiz free kick with his head to slash Paraguay's lead in half.
It was immediately clear that the second half would start similarly to the first, yet La Albirroja could not find the back of the net the second time around. Four minutes in, Romero let go a shot from nearly the same location as his sixth-minute strike, however, this time, it didn't pick up the same blistering pace and placement, and Toselli was able to tap the ball out of harm's way and over the end line for a corner.
As Chile cleared the ensuing corner, Vidal was once again caught off-guard and dispossessed. A pair of Paraguayans poked the ball upfield to the center of the eighteen, where Dario Lezcano had a chance served up on a plate and chipped the ball over the Chilean keeper but also over the crossbar. One minute later, Rodrigo Rojas mishit a volley into Toselli's arms to stall the pressure.
Alexis Sanchez darted his way into the box in the 66th minute to set up Chile's best stab at an equalizer. Alexis and Edson Puch executed a prompt one-two to avoid the oncoming keeper and set up the open net for the Arsenal man, who finished off the sequence, only to see the offside flag raised.
Vargas put on a nice ballhandling display above the box two minutes later and took a crack at goal, but his dangerous shot dipped just outside the right post. From there, Paraguay held on to claim three points and boost itself to within a point of a World Cup qualifying spot in South American competition.