Venezuela's Salomón Rondón (L) and Paraguay's Jonathan Fabbro. (Photo : Reuters)
Venezuela will try to redeem themselves in this year's CONMEBOL 2018 World Cup Qualifying tournament after it failed to reach the quarterfinals of the 2015 Copa America last June. They will host Paraguay at the Estadio Cachamay on October 8, Thursday to begin the competitions.
La Vinotinto's last match was back in June 21 during the Group C elimination round of the Copa America where it lost to Brazil, 1-2, at the Estadio Monumental David Arellano in Chile, as reported by Daily Mail Online.
Noel Sanvicente's men will be led by West Brom striker Salomón Rondón and Genoa midfielder Tomás Rincón to try and qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Meanwhile, Paraguay is coming off an international friendly game with Chile at the Estadio Nacional de Chile on September 5 as preparation for this tournament.
Los Guaraníes lost to the defending Copa America champs, 2-3, as 24-year-old midfielder Felipe Gutiérrez scored a double for La Roja while Arsenal winger Alexis Sanchez added another one at the 82nd for the final count, as per SkySports.
Veteran midfielder Jonathan Fabbro and striker Jorge Benítez, who is unavailable for the qualifying tourney for undisclosed reasons, scored the goals for Ramón Díaz's side.
Aside from Benítez, Paraguay will be missing the services of some of its veteran players such as former team captain Roque Santa Cruz, Raúl Bobadilla, and Cristian Riveros to give way to their younger players.
The predicted result is a close 1-0 victory for Venezuela.
Venezuela starting lineup (4-3-2-1 formation): Baroja; Rosales, Vizcarrondo, Túñez, Cichero; Seijas, Rincón, Guerra; Vargas, Arango; Rondón
Paraguay starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Silva; da Silva, Gomez, Valdez, Samudio; Cáceres, Aranda, Romero, Pérez; Barrios, Fabbro
