argentine striker gonzalo higuain scored the most goals this world cup.
argentine striker gonzalo higuain scored the most goals this world cup.
who scored the most goals this world cup?
argentine striker gonzalo higuain
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after the resignation of gerardo martino, former paraguayan footballer francisco arce would take charge of the national team for the qualifiers. in rounds 1 and 2 in october 2011, arce selected a strong and experienced squad to face peru and uruguay. experienced players such as roque santa cruz, nelson valdez, carlos bonet, cristian riveros, paulo da silva, édgar barreto and darío verón were included. despite this, however, paraguay were defeated 2–0 away in lima as paolo guerrero scored a double for peru on 7 october. four days later, paraguay drew with uruguay in asunción on 11 october. diego forlán scored in the 68th minute to give the visitors the lead, before richard ortiz equalized for paraguay in the 92nd minute. ortiz had converted the ball into the net after the ball had arrived in the 12-yard box from a corner kick, the match concluded 1–1. paraguay were in eighth position of the table after round 2. rounds 3 and 4 took place in november 2011. paraguay earned their first win of the qualifiers when they faced ecuador on 11 november. cristian riveros scored in the 47th minute of the match, latching on to a free-kick. darío verón then scored his first international goal for paraguay, heading home from a corner kick in the 57th minute. ecuador then scored a consolation goal in the 92nd minute, however, the fixture ended 2–1 and paraguay moved up to fourth position in the table. fourth position was the highest ranking that paraguay would eventually achieve throughout the duration of qualifiers, as the national team would face a series of several loses, both home and away. four days after paraguay's win against ecuador, they were defeated 2–0 against chile in santiago on 15 november. 2010 fifa world cup and 2011 copa américa veterans enrique vera and aureliano torres had not been called up to the national team since the qualifiers had commenced, and diego barreto had been selected as the number #1 goalkeeper throughout the first four rounds of the qualifiers. paraguay's first match of the qualifiers in 2012 came in june against bolivia. a 3–1 away defeat in la paz, which saw a double from bolivia's pablo daniel escobar, a paraguayan who had obtained bolivian citizenship. cristian riveros scored for the albirroja in the 81st minute as the national team again dropped down to eighth position of the table. the fixture saw the return of both justo villar and aureliano torres to the qualifiers. francisco arce departed as coach in 2012, after paraguay's 3–1 away loss against bolivia, and was replaced by uruguayan gerardo pelusso. on 5 august 2012, egar barreto announced his international retirement from the albirroja due to fatigue from intercontinental travelling for national team matches. he cited that the travelling takes away much energy as the italian serie a championship is long and exhausting. in round 7, paraguay were defeated 3–1 against argentina away in córdoba on 7 september 2012. argentina had been in the top three positions of the table throughout the qualifiers and commenced the match with a goal in the third minute, scored by ángel di maría. argentine-born paraguayan striker jonathan fabbro equalized for the albirroja in the 17th minute after scoring a penalty, however, goals from gonzalo higuaín and lionel messi took the scoreline to 3–1 as paraguay were defeated for the third consecutive time in the qualifiers. paraguay were placed at the bottom of the table in ninth position, and would eventually remain there until round 15. four days later, paraguay suffered a 2–0 home defeat against venezuela in asunción on 11 september. josé salomón rondón scored a double for the away team as paraguay lost their fourth qualifier in a row. in round 9, paraguay were defeated 2–0 away in barranquilla as colombia's radamel falcao scored two second half goals, on 12 october. four days later, paraguay ended their losing streak when they defeated peru 1–0 in asunción on 16 october. pablo aguilar scored for the home side in the 52nd minute to give the albirroja only their second win of the qualifiers. in paraguay's first qualifier for 2013, they faced uruguay in montevideo on 22 march. the scores were locked at 0–0 for the entire match until luis suárez scored in the 81st minute to give uruguay the lead. édgar benítez equalized for paraguay in the 85th minute as the fixture concluded 1–1. on 26 march, paraguay were defeated 4–1 away in quito against ecuador, four days later. paraguay had been in front after luis caballero scored in the 15th minute, however, ecuador responded with four goals, including a second half double from jefferson montero. in round 13, paraguay faced chile in asunción on 7 june. chile were leading 2–0 until roque santa cruz was substituted onto the field in the 58th minute for dante lópez. santa cruz was a key figure in the match for the remaining half-hour of the second half, eventually scoring in the 87th minute to take the score line to 2–1, which was the way that the match concluded. the goal brought his tally to 26 which made him the all-time leading goal scorer of the paraguayan national team's history. in paraguay's next fixture in round 15, they hosted bolivia in asunción on 6 september. by this time, gerardo pelusso had departed and paraguay's under-20 team coach víctor genes would ultimately be in charge until the qualifiers were concluded. santa cruz was again present with the squad and also served as the national team captain for the last four fixtures of the campaign. jonathan fabbro scored in the 16th minute for paraguay to give the home side a 1–0 lead. at the start of the second half, roque santa cruz scored a header in the 47th minute, extending his tally to 27 goals for the national team and giving paraguay a 2–0 lead. paraguay then scored two more goals during the second half in the 80th and 83rd minutes, coming from richard ortiz and gustavo gómez, to give paraguay a 4–0 home victory. after the round had concluded, the victory took paraguay from ninth position to eighth position of the table, in a bid to restore hope to at least reach the play-offs of the qualifiers. however, four days later, a 5–2 defeat against argentina in asunción would officially declare paraguay's elimination from reaching the top five teams of the conmebol table. paraguay again dropped to ninth position of the table. the match saw lionel messi score a double, as well as roque santa cruz scoring in the 85th minute, bringing his tally to 28 goals for the national team. paraguay's last two matches in october 2013 saw then face venezuela and colombia. édgar benítez gave paraguay a 1–0 lead in the 28th minute of the first half away in san cristóbal, however, venezuela's luis manuel seijas equalized in the 82nd minute as the match concluded 1–1 on 11 october. despite the loss, paraguay had moved back up again to eighth position. in paraguay's last fixture of the qualifiers in round 18, they faced colombia in asunción on 15 october. jorge rojas opened the scoring for paraguay in the 7th minute, however, a double from mario yepes gave colombia a 2–1 victory. paraguay again dropped down to ninth position of the table, having gained just 12 points from three wins during the qualifiers and having been defeated ten times. the 2014 fifa world cup qualification campaign proved to be one of the albirroja's most unsuccessful campaign. throughout the duration of the qualifiers, paraguay's coaching position was modified three times in the space of the entire 24-month period. paraguay failed to qualify for their fourth consecutive fifa world cup finals, and a third consecutive fifa world cup competition held inside their own continent (having not appeared at the 1962 fifa world cup held in chile and the 1978 fifa world cup held in argentina).
history of the paraguay national football team