Paraguay president superstitious; coach fears ‘thunderstorm’ France

PHILADELPHIA, July 4 — Paraguay President Santiago Peña will not attend his team’s World Cup last 16 match against France today for superstition reasons, reported German Press Agency (dpa).

“As president, I always receive an invitation to every match. But I must also say that I’m actually a tiny bit superstitious. That’s why I prefer to just watch the match from home,” Peña told the local Hoy newspaper.

Peña attended the opening match against co-hosts United States (US) which Paraguay lost 4-1.

He did not return after that, and Paraguay beat Turkey 1-0, drew 0-0 with Australia, and then stunned four-time champions Germany 4-3 on penalties in the last 32.

Peña would have liked to have attended the Germany game, but it coincided with the Mercosur summit in the capital, Asunción. He then declared a national holiday following that historic success.

The task against top title favourites France will be even tougher, and coach Gustavo Alfaro drew a comparison with nature when describing the French attack of Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé and Michael Olise.

“I’m a country lad, and whenever a thunderstorm with lightning rolled in over Rafaela, I knew I had to seek shelter - but not under a tree, because lightning could strike there,” he said.

“France is a thunderstorm, and almost all its lightning strikes the ground. Our task is to protect ourselves from this thunderstorm,” he said.

“Tomorrow’s match is not a match like any other; it is in no way a match like any other. Because we are playing against the world number one. I hope that Paraguay will have many more matches like this in the future,” the coach of the 2010 quarter-finalists said.

Alfaro said the victory over Germany was a morale booster, saying: “Confidence is like a bucket of water; when you win, it grows - and the victory over Germany was like an extra water tank.” — Bernama-dpa