Omar Alderete is one of Paraguay’s key players and should be able to offer a significant threat from set pieces against a USA side that have struggled from these situations under Pochettino.

This is actually a running trend with Pochettino’s sides - defending set pieces has always been a weak spot for him as a manager, something he’s admitted in the past, with his stints at Chelsea and Tottenham proving this. 

Paraguay may struggle to create chances from open play, especially now that Julio Enciso is set to miss the opening game of the tournament, but set pieces allow them to really put some pressure on this USA side. 

Omar Alderete is an obvious pick to benefit from these situations. He’s just enjoyed a brilliant season with Sunderland, notably managing 24 shots across his 32 starts for the Black Cats (0.77 per 90). He maintained an even better shot average across 34 starts the season prior (1.15 per 90), showing that this is a key strength of his game.

He took three shots across his three starts for Paraguay in the most recent Copa America, notably scoring a brilliant goal from outside the box against Brazil. Interestingly, all three of Alderete’s efforts came from outside of the box in that tournament - showing that he’s not afraid to take on the spectacular when he advances into forward areas.

Alderete managed 11 shots across his 14 starts for Paraguay during qualifying (0.82 per 90), so he’s got really consistent shot data for a centre back across his displays for club and country. He also scored two goals during this qualifying run, 28% of Paraguay’s goals during qualifying came from set pieces.

There’s clear value here, Alderete is as short as 1.57 with other major bookmakers to have a shot in this clash.