World Cup 2006 Groups: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H

Group B Team Profiles: England | Paraguay | Trinidad & Tobago | Sweden

Paraguay

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Paraguay team kit

Paraguay will appear in its third consecutive World Cup. Finishing a solid fourth in the South America qualifiers, Paraguay is coming into its own. The generation of players that progressed through the Athens Olympiad could prove troublesome for the much better known and highly touted teams from England and Sweden. The highlight of their qualifying campaign was a 1-0 victory over Argentina.

Paraguay are looking to reach the second round for the fourth time in total and the third time on the bounce. At first glance, there isn't much bounce in what is an aging squad even with the retirement of defenders Francisco Arce, Celso Ayala, and the most famous Paraguayan in the world and one-time Liverpool target, eccentric goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert. All time record scorer Jose Cardozo is still there, but only just, as he will be 35 by the time the tournament kicks-off and the veteran hitman is often joined in attack by Bayern Munich's speedy striker Roque Santa Cruz and the nation's young hope Nelson Haedo Valdez of Werder Bremen.

In France 1998, Paraguay went down in the second round to eventual winner France on a golden goal. In the most recent World Cup, the Albirroja lost again 1-0, this time to runner-up Germany. Being drawn out of the hat with the South Americans may not strike fear into the hearts of Europe's finest but Paraguay shouldn't be underestimated.

Paraguay Matches

Match # Date & Time Group Teams Result Venue
3 Sat 10th Jun 15:00 B  ENG  PAR 1 - 0 Frankfurt
20 Thu 15th Jun 21:00 B  SWE  PAR 1 - 0 Berlin
36 Tue 20th Jun 21:00 B  PAR  TRI 2 - 0 Kaiserslautern

Match times shown are local times for Germany (CEST/GMT+0200). Click on match date/time to view match statistics.

Past World Cup performance

Key Players

World Cup 2006 Qualification

Squad

Total World Cup 2006
# Posn Name DOB Club Caps Goals Pld Goals OG YC RC
1 GK Villar Justo 30-06-1977 Newells Old Boys ARG 41 0 1 0 0 0 0
2 DF Nunez Jorge 22-01-1978 Estudiantes ARG 19 1 3 0 0 0 0
3 DF Toledo Delio 10-02-1976 Zaragoza ESP 32 4 1 0 0 0 0
4 DF Gamarra Carlos 17-02-1971 Palmeiras BRA 110 12 3 0 1 0 0
5 DF Caceres Julio Cesar 05-10-1979 River Plate ARG 36 2 3 0 0 0 0
6 MF Bonet Carlos 02-10-1977 Libertad PAR 32 1 2 0 0 0 0
7 MF Cabanas Salvador 05-08-1980 Jaguares Chiapas MEX 15 1 0 0 0 0 0
8 MF Barreto Edgar 15-07-1984 NEC Nijmegen NED 17 0 2 0 0 1 0
9 FW Santa Cruz Roque 16-08-1981 Bayern Munich GER 46 13 3 0 0 0 0
10 MF Acuna Roberto 25-03-1972 Deportivo La Coruna ESP 97 5 3 0 0 1 0
11 MF Gavilan Diego 01-03-1980 Newells Old Boys ARG 39 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 GK Gomez Derlis 02-11-1972 Sportivo Luqueno PAR 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 MF Paredes Carlos 16-07-1976 Reggina ITA 72 10 3 0 0 2 0
14 DF Da Silva Paulo 01-02-1980 Toluca MEX 34 0 1 0 0 0 0
15 DF Manzur Julio 22-01-1981 Santos BRA 14 0 1 0 0 0 0
16 MF Riveros Cristian 16-10-1982 Libertad PAR 12 0 2 0 0 0 0
17 MF Montiel Jose 19-03-1988 Olimpia Asuncion PAR 6 0 0 0 0 0 0
18 FW Valdez Nelson 28-11-1983 Werder Bremen GER 15 4 3 0 0 1 0
19 MF Dos Santos Julio 07-05-1983 Bayern Munich GER 19 5 2 0 0 1 0
20 FW Lopez Dante 16-08-1983 Genova ITA 8 3 1 0 0 0 0
21 DF Caniza Denis 29-08-1974 Cruz Azul MEX 78 1 3 0 0 1 0
22 GK Bobadilla Aldo 20-04-1976 Libertad PAR 9 0 3 0 0 0 0
23 FW Cuevas Nelson 10-01-1980 Pachuca MEX 38 6 2 1 0 0 0