Paraguay vs Mali Preview & Prediction | Paris 2024 Olympics | Men’s Football | Group Stage
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After beginning their campaign by being mauled by Japan, Paraguay find themselves now in an excellent position to progress into the quarter-finals, whilst Mali will need to find a spark in attack if they are to get themselves into the last eight.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Tuesday 30th July, 2024, UK – 8:00pm / US ET – 3:00pm / US PT – 12:00pm
HOW TO WATCH THE PARIS OLYMPICS ON TV: UK – BBC is the main broadcaster while some event will be televised on Eurosport / US – NBC is the main broadcaster while some events will be shown on NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network and Telemundo
HOW TO WATCH THE PARIS OLYMPICS ONLINE: UK – BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website & Eurosport Player / US – Events can be streamed on the relevant streaming platforms of NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network and Telemundo
PARAGUAY PREVIEW: GIVING THEMSELVES A CHANCE
Paraguay started the 2024 Summer Olympics by being annihilated by Japan in their opening game. Albeit down to ten men for over an hour, an exciting Paraguayan squad found themselves on the receiving end of a 5-0 thrashing to the Japanese.
They set about to make amends against Israel and found themselves 1-0 up at half-time but Oscar Gloukh appeared to salvage a 2-2 draw for the Israelis in the 88th minute before captain Fabian Balbuena and Marcelo Fernandez scored second-half stoppage-time goals to clinch all three points.
MALI PREVIEW: LIMITED IN ATTACK
Mali have some pedigree in both defence and in midfield but their limited attacking options means they head into the final game having scored just once and even that came against the run of play when they equalised against Israel to salvage a point in their opener.
Their defensive capabilities were on show against Japan in their second game, though. Japan, after, as mentioned, putting five past Paraguay, could only find the net once in a 1-0 defeat of Mali and even that goal didn’t arrive until the 82nd minute.
PARAGUAY VS MALI PREDICTION
With the likes of Brighton and Hove Albion’s Julio Enciso, as well as Brighton-bound Diego Gomez, among others, their 5-0 loss to Japan appeared an aberration at the time and they would like to believe that was proven as they defeated Israel. They will have to be concerned about playing teams with remotely decent attackers or attacking plans, as shown by the fact that they have conceded seven goals in two games, but given that they are now playing Mali, that shouldn’t be a major issue for the Paraguayans here.
PARAGUAY VS MALI TIP: PARAGUAY TO WIN
