By Charly
May 23 2006

Once again, Paraguay walks into a World Cup as underdogs, but ready to prove they are as tough as anyone. With realistic objectives aiming low, both players and coaches are ready to give their all, knowing there’s not much to lose. The main objective is to try to improve past World Cup performances. Despite the austere presentation, Paraguay is certainly a strong side. With most of its players settled in the most competitive European and American leagues, a fair share of talent and their typical attitude of fighting for every ball till the very last one, this battling side has never achieved much in World Cups, but from time to time they did trouble some big sides. Remember France in the cup they won, their most difficult match was against Paraguay, the battling attitude, the mean defense and the pacey attackers were almost too much for the champions.

The aim this time is to repeat the results of France 1998, or even try to do the best to improve them, but without much hope; knowing that rivals like England and Sweden will be hard enough to overcome and manage to make it past the group stage, they know that the rival in the second stage will be top class. This doesn’t mean they are negative, they just are realistic. Coach Aníbal “Maño” Ruiz is who prefers to remain with his feet on the ground, but he works hard to improve Paraguay’s last World Cup performances, which is the goal set by himself.

Unfortunately, the squad has been struck by injuries that keep worrying everyone. Important players like Roque Santa Cruz, Carlos Gamarra and José Cardozo, among others, are all troubled with fitness issues and should they fail to recover immediately, the final preparations will be severely affected, complicating the further preparation for the first group stage matches. Also, the team never looked quite convincing during the qualifying process and may fail in forming a safe defense in the quest in looking for a more offensive football. Added to that, some critics of the coach and management have claimed that a big mistake was made when “old” players, like Roberto Acuña, Carlos Gamarra, José Cardozo and many others past their 30s were picked for the squad. Ruiz recognizes it is a heterogeneous squad, but believes in the importance of experience, and combines it with some youth talent like Nelson Haedo Valdez, Julio Dos Santos, Salvador Cabañas and Roque Santa Cruz.

On the other hand, even if these names are unknown to people, they are players who have been playing at the highest level of competition, some for many years and others having recently broken through with talent. Roque Santa Cruz is the most important player in the squad, though troubled with injuries for years, when fit he’s been one of Bayern Munich’s best strikers. Now Julio Dos Santos, a young attacking midfielder with pace and good dribbling skills, will join him in Bayern, where they will eventually face Nelson Haedo Valdez, the regular Werder Bremen striker, who has been impressive during all the season including Champions League. Carlos Paredes, Roberto Acuña and Carlos Gamarra are examples of experienced players who have had an admiring career in Europe, but that doesn’t mean that players who are yet to play in Europe can’t cope with the level. Goalkeeper Justo Villar and commanding centre back Julio César Cáceres play in the Argentinean league, where they have been outstanding, just like Salvador Cabañas in Mexico.

Apart from the share of talent, these players have a common identity that the Paraguayan national team has always had. This inexplicable and persistent warrior-like attitude of playing football, through which every ball is worth giving your life for, the fuel for this team engine that is the reason not only of mean defending (not necessarily violent) but of nice dangerous attacking too. Even if they lose, they won’t feel bad because they know they have given their all, leaving flesh and blood on the field, and that sense of reward that works as a sort of feedback completes this process. The outcome of such behaviour is what makes of Paraguay a respected and sometimes feared team, every side who faces them knows that they won’t have it easy; they will have to be very careful and exploit their own strengths as much as possible.

And a last thing, if anyone thought England has the best aerial game, Paraguay can top that. That may be their most dangerous weapon, and they are likely to use it without hesitating.

The players going to Germany are:

Goalkeepers: Justo Villar, Aldo Bobadilla, Derlis Gómez

Defenders: Denis Caniza, Carlos Gamarra, Julio César Cáceres, Delio Toledo, Paulo Da Silva, Julio Manssur, Jorge Núñez

Midfielders: Edgar Barreto, Roberto Acuña, Carlos Humberto Paredes, Julio Dos Santos, Cristian Riveros, Carlos Bonet, José Montiel, Diego Gavilán

Forwards: Roque Santa Cruz, Nelson Haedo Valdez, José Cardozo, Salvador Cabañas, Nelson Cuevas

Join us for the world cup, where we aim to provide something a little different from the rest; we have writers from all over Europe and even one in South America.

We will be concentrating on the news not readily available in England, all translated and waiting to debate.

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