Brazil winger Douglas Costa. (Photo : Getty Images)
A high-profile match between contending squads Paraguay (2-1-2, 8 points) and Brazil (2-1-2, 8 points) is scheduled to take place this Tuesday, March 29th at the Estadio Defensores del Chaco in the former's capital city of Asunción as the CONMEBOL 2018 World Cup qualifying tournament continues.
Paraguay, who is having an up-and-down tourney so far, managed to snap Ecuador's four-game winning run with a 2-2 draw at the Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa in Quito during the previous matchday, via the Business Standard.
FC Ingolstadt striker Dario Lezcano scored a brace with a goal in each half to lead head coach Ramón Díaz's side.
Ecuador forward Enner Valencia opened the scoring at the 20th minute of the match before Lezcano equalized it at the 38th to keep the game tied during the halftime interval.
Lezcano scored his second goal a minute before the hour mark of the match, which seemed to be the game winner Paraguay needed to draw closer to the hosts in the overall standings.
However, La Tricolor winger Angel Mena managed to net an equalizer during stoppage time to salvage a draw for Ecuador and prevent the team from suffering their first loss of the competitions.
Meanwhile, five-time World Cup champions Brazil is also having a mercurial campaign in the CONMEBOL qualifiers so far. Their last game was also a 2-2 draw with powerhouse squad Uruguay at the Itaipava Arena Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil as FC Barcelona teammates Neymar and Luis Suárez faced each other, as per Goal.
It was a highly-entertaining match with several world football superstars in both teams' lineups, with Bayern Munich winger Douglas Costa and Beijing Guoan midfielder Renato Augusto scoring the first two goals of the match at the first and 25th-minute marks respectively to give the Pentacampeões a quick 2-0 lead.
Uruguay, who has its own superstars, was not to be denied, though, as strikers Edinson Cavani of Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain and Suárez netted one goal apiece at the 30th and 48th minutes to force the draw and a share of a point in the overall standings.
The predicted result is a tough 2-1 victory for Brazil.
Paraguay starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Villar; Samudio, Da Silva, Gomez, Valdez; E. Benitez, Ortiz, Ortigoza, Gonzalez; J. Benitez, Lezcano
Brazil starting lineup (4-5-1 formation): Alisson; Luis, Luiz, Miranda, Alves; Costa, Augusto, Gustavo, Fernandinho, Willian; Neymar
