The Alfaro phenomenon :: Olé

“Argentina is humidity. Humidity leaks from somewhere.” Gustavo Alfaro made a metaphor in the previous one to illustrate how difficult it is to face Argentina. In view of the facts, the coach of Paraguay used all the waterproofing this Thursday to achieve his first victory against the Scaloni National Team. Since his arrival, the Guaraní team has changed its face. The Alfaro phenomenon…

The 62-year-old coach achieved a sequence of key results in a short time. In their first double qualifying round with Paraguay, they tied on September 6 against Uruguay and beat Brazil. A streak? No, because the transformation continued in the following presentations.

After the APF put an end to Daniel Garnero’s work for the early exit in the Copa América, Alfaro found himself with a team that was seventh in the Qualifiers, that had added five points out of 18 and that was coming from blow to blow . The transformation was total.

Alfaro is undefeated in this cycle: he scored 11 of the 15 units that Paraguay played under his command… That is, 73% effectiveness… No team in these last five Conmebol Qualifier presentations achieved such an amount of points.

Now Paraguay has climbed to sixth position in the Qualifiers table and is qualifying directly. On Tuesday at 5 p.m. he will try to sustain this momentum during his visit to Bolivia in La Paz.

Alfaro also managed to beat Scaloneta for the first time. In a weak match, the Argentine National Team lost on its visit to Paraguay at the Defensores del Chaco Stadium. Although they started winning with a good goal from Lautaro Martínez, Gustavo Alfaro’s Albirroja managed to turn the score around with a great Chilean goal from Antonio Sanabria and another header from Omar Alderete, who had to be sent off for a double yellow.

Alfaro led Ecuador between 2020 and 2022, putting this team in the World Cup in Qatar (eliminated in the first round). More than meritorious what Gustavo did, who faced Argentina three times: 0-1 (Messi’s goal) in the Bombonera in 2020 and 1-1 (Julián Álvarez and Enner Valencia) in Guayaquil in 2022 in the Qualifiers, already with both selected classifieds. In the middle, the quarterfinal duel of the Copa América in Brazil 2021, with a 3-0 victory for Lionel Scaloni’s team (goals from Rodrigo De Paul, Lautaro Martínez and Messi).

Already in March of this year, with Alfaro leading Costa Rica, there was a friendly in the United States. Another victory for Argentina 3-1 with contributions from Angelito Di María, Alexis Mac Allister and Toro Martínez. Manfred Ugalde had put the Ticos ahead.

Paraguay hit the start in the ST. When there were barely 69 seconds of play, Omar Alderete, who had to be sent off in the first half for a double yellow, headed home the 2-1 partial score for those led by Gustavo Alfaro against Argentina at the Defensores del Chaco.

Already without Cuti Romero, rreplaced by Leo Balerdi, Argentina did not score well on the dead ball (free kick) and the Guaraníes scored. Center to the far post and the entry from behind by four local players practically alone (Velázquez, Gómez, Alderete and Alonso). Balerdi failed to intercept the aerial delivery, Enzo Fernández started late to intercept and Nicolás Tagliafico slipped in the race.

So, Alderete headed and put it to the far post of Dibu Martínez to score the second goal of the night for the home owners.