Gustavo Alfaro, the coach of the Paraguay national team, sees facing France as like facing a storm that you know will hit you.
The Paraguay national team is preparing to face France in the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup.
Alfaro said during the press conference for the match: "It is a pleasure to be here, we are in good shape, the match against Germany taught us a lot."
He continued, "We knew the goal was to compete, but we lacked experience because this is our first participation as a group in the World Cup, but we learned from it."
He added, "For Paraguay, this is history even if it is not for others, these are exceptional occasions and I hope we have more evenings like the one we had against Germany."
He emphasized, "Many teams retreat to low defense due to the fatigue from the entire season along with the heat, which is why we don't see much high pressing, the effort we put in was tremendous against Germany and the match was tough."
He continued, "Facing France? I am a rural man and in the city of Ravella when the storm was approaching, we didn't need to take shelter because there were no lightning rods, France is like the storm and the lightning strikes the middle of the goal, and you know the storm is coming, for me, there were 4 candidates to win the tournament, Argentina, Spain, France, and Brazil, and France is number one."
He added, "We don't want to compare ourselves to the 2010 generation, I was happy because they came to greet us, they are part of Paraguay's history, and we want to make our own history, and I hope we have such opportunities, for some teams, a good World Cup means finishing in the top 4, but for us, the story is different."
He concluded, "We are not here for a stroll, we came to compete, but I told the players that just reaching where we are now is already a victory, so for me, the result of the Germany match or winning against France will not change anything, maybe our chance to qualify is only 3%, but the only thing that makes any team grow is confidence, and we have a lot of it after beating Germany."
Paraguay had beaten Germany in the round of 32 on penalties, after the match ended in a draw with one goal for each team.
