Paraguay and United Arab Emirates will meet for an International Friendly in Austria on Friday.

Both nations fell short of reaching the upcoming World Cup, with Paraguay finishing ninth in the South American Qualifying group and their opponents losing to Australia in a knockout tie.

Match preview

Paraguay head into a run of international friendlies on the back of a tough period, having fallen well short of qualifying for the World Cup through the South American group.

In their 18 qualifying games, Los Guaranies managed just three wins and 16 points, with the last of those victories coming in the penultimate round of fixtures in a 3-1 beating of Ecuador before suffering a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Peru on the final day at the end of March.

Following that disappointment, Guillermo Barros Schelotto's men returned to action with a trip to Asia in June, and they suffered a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Japan and played out a more commendable 2-2 draw with South Korea.

Their most recent outing came at the beginning of September, and Los Guaranies returned to winning ways in a friendly against Mexico as Derlis Gonzalez hit the only goal in Atlanta.

Now aiming to rebuild further confidence with no competitive action on the horizon, Schelotto's men will aim to make it back-to-back victories for the first time since 2013 before taking on Morocco next week.

Their opponents also do not have competitive action on the horizon and will aim to bounce back from their exit from World Cup Qualifying in June.

United Arab Emirates cruised through the second round of Asian qualifiers, topping their initial group with six wins from eight outings, before facing a tougher test in their third-round group alongside Iran and South Korea.

A third-placed finish, while not granting automatic progression to the tournament in Qatar alongside the top two, did book a tie with Australia to reach an Inter-Confederation playoff, but they would fall just short in that encounter, despite Caio Canedo drawing them level on the hour mark, as Ajdin Hrustic sealed a 2-1 win for the Socceroos in the final 10 minutes.

Now aiming to bounce back and rebuild a positive run of form, Rodolfo Arruabarrena's team will hope to mark their trip to Europe with a win over their South American counterparts on Friday.

Team News

Paraguay have called up a strong squad for this round of friendlies, although important attacker Angel Romero is a notable absentee.

Gustavo Gomez should continue to lead the side as captain, with Corinthians centre-back Fabian Balbuena set to join him in the middle of the defence.

Newcastle United attacker Miguel Almiron remains a major threat going forward, having hit a brace in his most recent appearance against South Korea, and he could again play behind frontman Derlis Gonzalez.

The United Arab Emirates line will once again be led by star man Ali Mabkhout, who tops his nation's all-time scoring charts with 80 goals in 107 caps.

Caio Canedo is another threat from the wing, and he will aim to keep contributing goals after netting their equaliser against Australia last time out in the eventual playoff defeat.

Alongside Mabkhout, defender Walid Abbas brings the most experience in the squad with over 100 caps to his name, and he will again line up on the left-hand side of the defence.

Paraguay possible starting lineup:
Silva; Piris, Gomez, Balbuena, Arzamendia; Ortiz, Cubas; Villasanti, Almiron, Medina; Gonzalez

United Arab Emirates possible starting lineup:
Eisa; Ibrahim, Al Attas, Al Hammadi, Abbas; Hamad, Salmeen; Canedo, Ramadan, Al Maazmi; Mabkhout

We say: Paraguay 2-1 United Arab Emirates

We anticipate a tight encounter but put Paraguay's squad just above that of their opponents and lean just towards them for the result, in a game which could well be separated by a single goal.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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