2016 Copa America: USMNT's Bobby Wood Primed To Explode vs. Paraguay

With the USMNT‘s dominating victory over Costa Rica, the path to the next round of the 2016 Copa America Centenario looks like an extremely attainable goal. The USMNT’s next opponents, Paraguay, are no easy task and should be treated with caution.

Paraguay, who tied Costa Rica 0 – 0 in their Copa America opener and lost 2 – 1 to Colombia in their second game, are a solid squad who excel defensively. Although their last five matches have either been a draw or a loss, they have allowed just three goals combined to Mexico, Costa Rica and Colombia. This is the type of game in which the USMNT’s offense could stagnate as it did against Colombia and cost them in a big way.

That being said, the USMNT is the better all-around side and should win easily. This team seemed to click against Costa Rica, and if they play with that sort of focus, this should be a two-or-three goal victory.

With Clint Dempsey’s goal and double assist outburst against Costa Rica, he will be expected to perform well against a considerably weaker Panama squad. However, the player to watch in this one is not Dempsey, but Bobby Wood.

Wood found himself on the scoresheet against Costa Rica with a beautiful turn and finish and should find himself with plenty of chances against Paraguay. The Paraguayan defense had major problems with Carlos Bacca against Colombia and even more so with James Rodriguez. If Wood can get some confidence early and start running at the defense, he could easily finish this game with a goal or two.

All the USMNT needs is a tie to move on, but a win would give this team a ton of momentum heading into a huge matchup with likely opponents Chile.