Paraguayan players celebrate the victory. (AFP)
Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Rodolfo Arruabarrena were champions as Boca players and coaches. This Thursday they met in their teams’ friendly in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. And the victory is for Melli: Paraguay defeated the United Arab Emirates 1-0, with a header from Fabián Balbuena.
El Melli replaced Vasco as Boca coach when Daniel Angelici’s management fired the former left-back in 2016. They had already met as coaches: on Sunday 19 April 2015, Garnet de Barros Schelotto lost 3 to 1 at home against Xeneize de Arruabarrena in La Fortaleza, in the last clash between the two, with goals from Pachi Carrizo, Pavón and Lodeiro. Before, on 11/30/14, it was 2-2 in the same stadium.
Therefore, the duels between the two were even, with a draw and a win for each.
The match
The South American team dominated the match in which Guillermo made a fairly offensive bet, with Mathias Villasanti as the brand’s midfielder and three men in attack, such as Miguel Almirón, Julio Enciso and Derlis González, players with a lot of experience in the national team who will not participate in the World Cup in Qatar.
Richard Ortiz entered the second half and Paraguay took more control of the game due to the lack of a potential rival. The goal was in the 40th minute, from a corner kick.
A strong figure: led by Barros Schelotto, Paraguay achieved their second consecutive victory, something they had not achieved for 9 years, 10 months and 9 days. Previously, they had defeated Mexico by the same score in the United States at the end of August this year.
In any case, both Paraguay and the United Arab Emirates, Argentina’s rivals in the 16/11 friendly, will not take part in the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
formations
Paraguay: Roberto Fernandez; Iván Ramírez, Gustavo Gómez, Fabián Balbuena, Santiago Arzamendia; Matías Galarza (55 Richard Ortíz), Mathías Villasanti, Miguel Almirón, Lorenzo Melgarejo (78 Jesús Medina); Julio Enciso (78 Sebastián Ferreira) and Derlis González (89 Diego Gómez). DT: Guillermo Barros Schelotto.
United Arab Emirates: Khalid Eisa; Khalifa Al Hammadi, Mohamed Al Attas (72 Khalid Hashemi), Abdulaziz Haikal (72 Saeed Jumaa), Khaled Al Dhanhani (87 Ahmed Jamil); Ali Salmin (87 Tahnoon Al Zaabi), Abdalla Ramadan, Majid TRAshid, Harib Abdalla (82 Bandar Mohamed); Caio Canedo and Ali Mabkhout. DT: Rodolfo Arruabarrena.
Source: Clarin
