All eyes will be on whether Lionel Messi is passed fit to feature on Friday, but even if the 36-year-old is not involved, Argentina will be regarded as firm favourites to come out on top.
Paraguay have frustrated Argentina over the years, but we believe that the world champions have enough quality in their side to pick up maximum points against a goal-shy Albirroja outfit.
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Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Argentina win with a probability of 85.6%. A draw had a probability of 10.9% and a win for Paraguay had a probability of 3.45%.
The most likely scoreline for an Argentina win was 2-0 with a probability of 16.82%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (14.96%) and 1-0 (12.6%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (4.84%), while for a Paraguay win it was 0-1 (1.81%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 12.6% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Argentina would win this match.
-0.73) 
0.52) 
