MUMBAI: Turkey’s Kerem Kesgin struck in added-on time, with a cracking shot from the edge of the box to blot an otherwise perfect day for Gustavo Morinigo. It didn’t change a thing for either team. With the 3-1 win, Paraguay bagged their third victory in as many games to top Group B while Turkey continued to languish at the bottom.
“For us the target today was zero goals, but we conceded one in the final minutes,” said Morinigo, the Paraguay coach after his team completed the group-stage sweep at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium on Thursday evening.
Coming into the tournament, Navi Mumbai had drawn one of the weaker groups, with neither home team India nor one of the glamour teams like Brazil, Spain or Germany scheduled to play here. But Paraguay have dazzled the modest smattering of football fans at the venue with their flair play. They have the speed and skill to burst into attack. In the three matches, they have scored 10 goals, a few of them breathtaking. But they have also let in five and not managed to keep a clean sheet yet.
“Defence is definitely a concern going forward,” added Morinigo, the only coach at the tournament who has played in the senior World Cup (2002). “The next few days we will be working on that.”
One of the four teams that qualified from South America, Paraguay came in with a reputation of being a technically sound outfit. They were the only team in the 2017 South American championships that hadn’t lost to champions Brazil and are now showing that quality on the world stage. Through the group stage, they made sure that all the players got playing time: only three of their players featured in all the three matches.
After their perfect record in the first round, they have become one of the teams to watch out for. And with the defence stitched up, they might well be irresistible.