Return to the World Cup after 16 years! Paraguay Miracle, "Made in Argentina"

Written by Hanbing 16 years later, Paraguay fans can finally have a carnival again - on the evening of September 4th local time, Paraguay tied Ecuador 0-0 at home, and entered the World Cup finals for the 9th time in the history of the team. Fans gathered in front of the National Pantheon of Heroes in the capital Asuncion to celebrate wildly, and for this South American country with a population of only 7 million, it is one of the few major events worth national celebration. President Peña specially issued a presidential decree, setting September 5 after qualifying as a national holiday.

16 years ago, Paraguay advanced to the quarterfinals of the South African World Cup, and Asuncion city center agreed to be a sea of ​​celebration. But after three consecutive World Cups, the "Red and White Legions" lost to the South American qualifiers, and the results were bleak. Ranked 9th in 2014, ranked last, only 2 points away from the playoff qualification in 2018, and ranked 8th in 2022, losing hope of qualifying early.

This time Paraguay can qualify as 6th in South America one round ahead of schedule, and the first contribution will be attributed to Argentine coach Alfaro. Paraguay football has experienced a difficult mismatch. Santa Cruz, Gamara, Akuña, Ayala and others have retired one after another, and Paraguay has also lost its label-like solid defense line. After the 2024 Copa America ended the group stage, the Paraguay Football Association hired Alfaro, who led Costa Rica to defeat Paraguay in the last round of the group stage. He led Ecuador to the 2022 World Cup, becoming the hope to save Paraguay football.

Before Alfaro took office, Paraguay only won 1 in 6 matches and scored only 1 goal in the qualifiers. He came up to strengthen his defense first, and straightened the 36-year-old goalkeeper Fernandez, and appointed Palmelas central defender G. Gomez as captain. With left-back Alonso and all-round midfielder D. Gomez, the reorganized defensive system blocked Uruguay, Brazil and Ecuador in the first three games. It was not until his 10th game in his coaching team that Alfaro suffered his first loss in the World Cup qualifiers.

Offensive end, Alfaro also made key adjustments. Sanabria, who played for Turin in Serie A, became the main player in the front line and scored consecutive goals against Venezuela and Argentina, and also had a winning goal against Chile, helping Paraguay score 9 points. Almiron and Enciso also performed well on the offensive end, forming a trident.

But Paraguay football is thankful not only this Argentine coach. In 2011, Martino led the team to the finals of the Copa America, which was Paraguay's best international competition result since winning the Copa America in 1979. After Martino, Paraguay successively hired five Argentine coaches, including Dias, Berizo, Guillermo Seloto, Gianero and Alfaro, and finally got it done. Paraguay's left-back Sanders, Asamendia, right-back Caceres, midfielder Kuvas and front-middle Kaku are all mixed-race players who have become naturalized from Argentina. Kaku has also represented the Argentina U20 National Youth Team in the U20 World Youth Championship. Not only Argentine coaches, but Argentine players are also the cornerstone of Paraguay's successful qualifying.

In addition, the success of Paraguay football is closely related to the continuous achievements in the youth training field in recent years. In 2023, the U15 National Youth Team of Paraguay won the South American U15 Championship. The U17 National Youth Team and the U20 National Youth Team both entered the 2025 U17 World Youth Team and the U20 World Youth Team. The U23 National Olympic Team also entered the Paris Olympics and advanced to the semi-finals. Paraguay's main midfielders D. Gomez and Enciso both participated in the Paris Olympics. Enciso just joined Ligue 1 Strasbourg from Brighton in the Premier League this summer, and Chelsea is interested in him.

Alfaro's success is also a new breakthrough for Argentina coach. As many as 6 of the 10 South American national teams are coached by the Argentinians. In addition to Argentina (Scaroni), Uruguay (Belsa), Ecuador (Becasse), and Colombia (Lorenzo) are all Argentine coaches leading the team to qualify. Venezuela (Baptista) is also very likely to qualify for the playoffs. In addition, the head coach of the host US team is also an Argentine (Pochettino). Next World Cup, Argentina may become the largest source country for participating team coaches.