Paraguay defeats Argentina for Cup

In two friendly matches between World Cup bound teams Paraguay triumphs over Argentina

In anticipation for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Tahiti 2013, Paraguay and Argentina squared off at San Bernardino in Paraguay for the right to hoist the Copa Alto Rendimiento Mercosur (The Mercosur High Performance Cup). Both teams will head to Tahiti for the World Cup in September and both are working hard to prepare for Beach Soccer?s biggest stage. Before looking ahead, both squads decided to play against one another.

Paraguay and Argentina played twice over the weekend and both matches were won by Paraguay.  On Saturday, the Paraguayans utilized the home field advantage and smothered Argentina by a score of 5-1.  Sunday was a much closer match with the game being decided by one goal. The end result was still the same though, as Paraguay beat the albicelestes 2-1.

Things started out very well for Argentina, as Luciano Sirico scored first to put the Argentine side up 1-0. Luciano Sirico would score every goal for Argentina over the weekend. In the second half of the first match, down 1-0, Paraguay composed themselves and scored five straight goals to go on and win 5-1. Both teams played in similar friendly matches in early July in Argentina, and both teams took one match from the other. Paraguay did not intend to have the same result this time around.

In the second match, Paraguay scored first and seemed poised to cruise, as they did the day before. Argentina was not going to roll over that easy and Sirico scored to tie the game at 1-1 in the first half. The second half began with the same score and things stayed that way until the middle of the second half when Juan Lopez of Paraguay scored his second goal of the game to put Paraguay up for good. The final score was 2-1. Should these teams meet in Tahiti, there will be an anticipation and expectation for an exciting match like this one. Both teams are in different groups for the World Cup and a meeting between the two teams would be in an elimination game, making this past weekend a perfect test for each team to get to know their intercontinental rival.