Paraguayvs
AustraliaNobody won at Levi's Stadium on Friday night, and depending on which bench you were sitting on, that feels either like a rescue or a missed opportunity.
Paraguay and Australia played out a 0-0 draw in front of 68,827 people in Santa Clara — a game that had just enough tension to hold your attention but never quite delivered on it. Our pre-match read leaned toward Paraguay at 38% to win, and instead the draw landed, which tells you most of what you need to know about how flat the whole thing felt.
Australia Had the Ball. Paraguay Had the Keeper.
The Socceroos controlled possession — 55.9% to 44.1% — and put up 12 shots to Paraguay's seven. Five of those found the frame. Paraguay managed two. The math says Australia were the better side, and for long stretches that was true. They moved the ball patiently, worked the corners (three to Paraguay's one), and pressed high enough to keep Paraguay pinned.
But Paraguay's goalkeeper had other ideas. Five saves on the night. Without him, this story reads completely differently.
Paraguay, for their part, barely threatened. Seven shots, two on target, a single corner, and zero offsides — a team that spent most of the night defending and hoping. They fouled nine times to Australia's six, which is another way of saying they were chasing shadows more often than they'd like to admit.
The Cards That Summed It Up
The bookings told a similar story. Jackson Irvine picked up a yellow right at the start of the second half — 46 minutes — the kind of foul that happens when a team is pushing and a player gets a little too eager. Diego Gómez followed him into the book at 77 minutes for Paraguay, and by that point both sides seemed to have accepted the point was the most likely outcome.
Qué partido tan trabado — the kind of game where both teams are working hard and neither is really getting anywhere.
No red cards, no real flashpoints, no moment where the match cracked open. Just two teams grinding through ninety minutes in the California heat, each with something to protect.
The Verdict
Australia will feel they left something behind. Twelve shots, five on target, the better part of possession — and nothing to show for it. The Socceroos had enough of the ball to win this game on another night, and their inability to convert will sting more than the result itself.
Paraguay will feel differently. They were outplayed for stretches and they know it, but a draw is a draw at a World Cup. Their goalkeeper kept them in it when the midfield couldn't, and in this competition, you take what you can get.
The question now is whether either side can find a cutting edge in their next match. Because based on what we saw at Levi's Stadium, neither team looks capable of hurting you — and that's a problem you can only hide for so long.
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