Italy Paraguay New Zealand Slovakia
After picking up 13 points in their first five CONMEBOL qualifiers culminating in an impressive 2-0 home defeat of Brazil La Albirroja were strong contenders from the off to feature in their fourth World Cup finals on the bounce.
Despite a stuttering end to their qualifying campaign Paraguay made history by breaking the 30 point mark for the first time in the country's history. The team's rise to prominence in the last couple of decades has disrupted the natural order of things in South America. They picked up four points against Argentina this time out as they booked their place in South Africa with a 1-0 win over La Albiceleste in Asuncion.
The win over head coach Gerardo Martino's native Argentina meant Paraguay qualified with two games to spare and ended up just a single point behind table toppers Brazil. After playing all 18 games Paraguay came out with a record 33 points courtesy of 10 wins and three draws.
Such is the nation's fever for football that president Fernando Lugo declared a national holiday the day following Paraguay clinching their spot in South Africa.
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Paraguay |
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Paraguay v Italy 14 June; Cape Town
Paraguay v Slovakia 20 June; Bloemfontein
Paraguay v New Zealand 24 June; Polokwane
One of the biggest tests for coach Martino has been to encourage Paraguay as a team to come out of their shell and trust in their own ability. The nation has a rich history of counter-attacking football but the Argentine is convinced he has the quality at his disposal to really take the game to opponents and has been trying to instill this belief in his squad.
To highlight Martino's faith in his team's offence qualities he has deployed a front three of Roque Santa Cruz, Salvador Cabañas and Nelson Haedo Valdez when given the chance. Unfortunately Paraguay have often had to do without Santa Cruz recently due to injury but when fit he has the ability to change the entire look of the team. Luckily for Martino and Paraguay Salvador Cabañas has proved a more than useful deputy for Santa Cruz and the Borussia Dortmund striker's six goals in qualifiers is all the evidence anybody needs of his class. It was Valdez however who bagged the crucial goal against Argentina as he stepped up to the plate as another striker with a hunger for the big occasion.
Paraguay's defence is marshalled by Paulo Da Silva who is currently testing himself against the cream of the English Premier League with Sunderland. Getting up close and personal with some of the best strikers in the world will no doubt make Da Silva a font of knowledge when Paraguay plan how to keep things tight at the back in South Africa.
After reaching the knock-out rounds in France 1998 and South Korea/Japan 2002 their first round exit in Germany was met with disappointment back home. The current crop with be out to reset the standard in South Africa and after receiving a favourable draw Paraguay expects.
Roque Santa Cruz been turning out in the red and white of the Paraguay senior side since he was 17-years-old. He is the symbol of the team and he always gives the opposition defence something to think about when he is on the pitch.
After an unspectacular scoring record in Germany with Bayern Munich the striker's club career really blossomed when he transferred to Blackburn Rovers. Since then he has moved on to Manchester City where he is just starting to get his nose in front of some of the galaxy of forwards on the books at Eastlands.
Injury meant he only played in five of Paraguay's qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup but of those games his side won four and he scored three. This telling statistic shows the effect Santa Cruz playing has on Paraguay as a unit.
After playing at the last two World Cups, Santa Cruz will feel that he is yet to show his best form on the biggest stage. Maybe not against Italy but up against Slovakia and New Zealand surely he must fancy adding to his World Cup tally.
His coach Martino is certainly aware of the effect a fit Santa Cruz can have on the international stage.
"Up front we had to play most of the qualifying competition without Roque. Can you imagine Argentina playing for all that time without Messi or Brazil without Kaka?" Martino said after securing qualification.
Salvador Cabañas' six goals in qualifying made him his country's top marksman in the competition. With Roque Santa Cruz missing so many games Cabañas was ask to play up front rather than in his usual wing position for the national team. The player was so successful in front of goal that Martino has since decided to play Cabañas as part of a front three when Santa Cruz and Valdez are both fit.
The player's understanding of the wide role has proved a nuisance to the defenders he has come up against in internationals recently as Cabañas drifts in and out of the middle of the park. Any defender asked to mark him at the World Cup would do well to recognise that Cabañas has a very decent strike rate and in 2007 was named South American Footballer of the Year as he finished top scorer in the Copa Libertadores.
The forward has spent the majority of his playing days in Mexico and is therefore likely to be a surprise package to the majority of defenders in Group F.
The Argentine's cool and collected manner served him well as a coach on the domestic scene in Paraguay as he mopped up league titles in the first half of the decade. He was an obvious candidate to take over the job as boss of Paraguay once Anibal Ruiz vacated the post in early 2007.
As mentioned above the major characteristic of Martino's time in charge is getting the squad to believe in themselves and this has transferred into very impressive results. Few teams have got the better of Dunga's Brazil but Martino engineered a 2-0 defeat of the Selecao in qualifying.
Now in the lead up to South Africa Martino must iron out the creases which saw his side's form drop off in the second half of their qualifying campaign as they surrendered top spot to Brazil.
"We suffered a bit more in the second half of the qualifying tournament, which is what you'd expect." Martino said after victory over his native Argentina. "It's not normal to go through a whole campaign playing like we did in the first part of the competition, and if anyone thinks this is easy, then they're wrong. These qualifiers are so tough."
1930, 1950, 1958, 2006 First Round; 1986, 1998, 2002 Second Round
Will make it out of the group.
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Third place in the South American zone behind Chile and Brazil.
Paraguay's first ever international was a 1-5 thrashing by neighbors
Argentina.
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The teams in Group F have the lowest average FIFA ranking of any group at the 2010 World Cup. This must surely work in Paraguay’s favour but bearing that stat in mind it is surprising that their first opponent in South Africa are the current World Cup holders. Paraguay will hope that Italy maintain their tradition of being slow starters and they can pick something up against the Azzurri to take the pressure off their next two games. Slovakia follow the Italians and lastly it is New Zealand making getting of Group F a very attainable target for Paraguay.
A good showing against the Dutch in the second round would mark an improvement on their showing four years ago and would appease the Paraguayan public. Sneaking into the quarter-finals would no doubt have president Lugo declaring yet another national holiday.
Goalkeepers Justo Villa (Valladolid), Aldo Bobadilla (Independiente
Medellin), Diego Barreto (Cerro Porteno)
Defenders: Julio Cesar Caceres (Atletico Mineiro), Denis
Caniza (Leon), Dario Veron (Pumas), Paulo Da Silva (Sunderland),
Claudio Morel (Boca Juniors), Carlos Bonet (Olimpia), Aureliano
Torres (San Lorenzo), Antolin Alcaraz (Brugge)
Midfielders: Cristian Riveros (Sunderland), Jonathan Santana
(Wolfsburg), Enrique Vera (Liga de Quito), Victor Caceres (Libertad),
Nestor Ortigoza (Argentinos Juniors), Edgar Barreto (Atalanta)
Forwards: Roque Santa Cruz (Manchester City), Oscar Cardozo
(Benfica), Nelson Haedo Valdez (Borussia Dortmund), Rodolfo Gamarra
(Libertad), Lucas Barrios (Borussia Dormund), Edgar Benitez (Pachuca)