History of the Paraguay national football team 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
History of the Paraguay national football team of 9 European based players, were expected to advance to at least the round of 16 stage of the competition according to the Paraguayan media, however, defender Antolín Alcaraz believed that Paraguay had what was "required to reach the semi-finals" and Nelson Valdez also believed that the current generation was the one to go further than Paraguay had ever been before. Paraguay were drawn into Group F alongside World Champions Italy, Slovakia and New Zealand. Paraguay would face Italy in their opening group stage match and would take a 1–0 lead in the 39th minute thanks to a header from