Mexico and Paraguay will square off at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in an international friendly on Wednesday.
Mexico have qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and this will be one of the few friendly games they have scheduled ahead of the main event. Paraguay missed out on qualifying for the finals and will take this game as an opportunity to experiment with their squad.
Both teams have only called upon players based in the CONCACAF and CONMEBOL regions to play in this game. Players currently plying their trade with European clubs have been left out of the squads for this one-off friendly.
Mexico vs Paraguay Head-to-Head
The two teams have met 20 times across all competitions, with friendlies making up for more than half of these meetings. Mexico have been the better side against their southern rivals, picking up 11 wins. Paraguay have four wins to their name while five games have ended in draws.
They last met in a friendly game in the USA in 2019. The game ended in a 4-2 win for El Tri.
Mexico form guide (all competitions): D-W-D-L-W
Paraguay form guide (all competitions): D-L-L-W-L
Mexico vs Paraguay Team News
Mexico
Gerardo Martino initially named a 21-man squad for the game. Club America’s Henry Martin and Tigres UANL's Sebastian Cordova picked up minor injuries and had to withdraw from the squad.
Angel Zaldivar was named as a replacement, bringing the final strength of the squad to 20 players.
Injured: Sebastian Cordova, Henry Martin
Doubtful: None
Unavailable: None
Paraguay
Guillermo Barros Schelotto also called upon 21 players for their friendly against Mexico. Defender Alexis Duarte picked up an injury and has not traveled to Atlanta with the team.
Injured: Alexis Duarte
Doubtful: None
Unavailable: None
Mexico vs Paraguay Predicted XIs
Mexico (4-3-3): Carlos Acevedo; Israel Reyes, Jesus Angulo, César Montes, Kevin Álvarez; Luis Romo, Luis Chavez, Érick Aguirre; Uriel Antuna, Rodolfo Pizarro, Alexis Vega
Paraguay (4-4-2): Antony Silva; Luis Felipe Zárate, Bruno Valdez, Iván Piris, Saúl Salcedo; Richard Sanchez, Andres Cubas, Richard Ortiz, Iván Arturo Torres; Carlos González, Matías Galarza
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Mexico vs Paraguay Prediction
Both teams have left some of their star players out of the squad for this friendly. This will mean some of the uncapped players might get an opportunity to impress the managers here.
Mexico have looked solid in their games this year and, given their good record against La Albirroja, they should be able to secure a narrow win here.
Prediction: Mexico 2-1 Paraguay