The Turkish team arrived in North America with "good recommendations". Although Montella's charges failed to qualify directly for the World Cup, they left a very positive impression. In the group stage of the qualifiers, the Turks competed with the powerful Spain and managed to take points off it in the final group-stage match. Finishing second in the group because of one defeat, the Turkish players advanced to the qualification playoffs, where they knocked Romania and Kosovo out of contention, both with 1-0 scorelines. Montella's team demonstrated the ability to confidently control the flow of the game, build a plan of action, and endure. In the opening match of the World Cup itself, none of that worked for the Turks. The coach's game plan was undone by a quick goal from Australia, after which the Australians' players parked themselves in a compact defense. Of course, in terms of chances Turkey outplayed their opponents, but in football the decisive factor is goals, and the Australians had more of them. Paraguay became the main beneficiary of the expansion of South America's representation at the World Cup. The Paraguayans finished sixth, which allowed them to be the last to qualify directly for the World Cup. The thing is that in the first group-stage round, no one treated them lightly as Chile or Bolivia did in their own confederation. Paraguay was subjected to a real steamroller by the hosts. The United States had the South Americans dizzy in the first half, and they were simply dreaming of halftime. Paraguay's 1-4 defeat was a fair reflection of what was happening on the field. Of course, in the upcoming match the support for Turkey in the stadium will be much weaker than the USA's support a week ago. Moreover, the quality of the Turkish players is better than the Americans. In Montella's squad are stars such as Arda Güler, Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Kenan Yıldız. And that's only talking about first-tier stars. Paraguay doesn't have players of that caliber. What is even more important, there is no level of play comparable to the Turkish one. In the tournament's opening match Turkey were unlucky, but beyond that their players have nowhere to retreat. Let's bet on the victory of the nominal hosts.