Paraguay announce final 23

Santa Cruz and Da Silva among 23 to head to South Africa

Last updated: 31st May 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Paraguay announce final 23

Santa Cruz: Heading to South Africa

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England-based duo Roque Santa Cruz and Paulo Da Silva are among those to have made Paraguay's 23-man World Cup squad.

The Manchester City striker and Sunderland defender survived the cut as Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino reduced his 30-man initial party to the 23 who will travel to South Africa.

Those to miss out include the Argentina-based quartet Eduardo Ledesma (Lanus), Marcos Caceres (Racing Club) and Marcelo Estigarribia and Jorge Achucarro (both Newell's Old Boys).

Libertad midfielder Sergio Aquino, Osvaldo Martinez of Mexican club Monterrey and Olimpia defender Julio Manzur were also omitted.

After announcing his 23 man squad on Sunday, Martino told reporters that it was not an easy choice to make.

"Building the list is always hard, because you feel you are taking out a very important part of each player," he said.

"Some of the players already knew in their heart that they were going to be excluded.

"Some others didn't."

Paraguay will play Greece in a friendly in Switzerland on Wednesday as part of their warm-up before taking on reigning champions Italy, New Zealand and Slovakia in Group F at the finals.

Squad

Justo Villar (Real Valladolid, Spain), Aldo Bobadilla (Independiente Medellin, Colombia), Diego Barreto (Cerro Porteno); Denis Caniza (Leon, Mexico), Dario Veron (Pumas, Mexico), Julio Caceres (Atletico Mineiro, Brazil), Paulo Da Silva (Sunderland, England), Claudio Morel Rodriguez (Boca Juniors, Argentina), Antolin Alcaraz (Wigan, Eng), Carlos Bonet (Olimpia), Aureliano Torres (San Lorenzo, Argentina); Cristian Riveros (Sunderland, England), Enrique Vera (LDU Quito, Ecuador), Edgar Barreto (Atalanta, Italy), Jonathan Santana (Wolfsburg, Germany), Victor Caceres (Libertad), Nestor Ortigoza (Argentinos Juniors, Argentina); Roque Santa Cruz (Manchester City, England), Nelson Haedo Valdez (Borussia Dortmund, Germany), Oscar Cardozo (Benfica, Portugal), Edgar Benitez (Pachuca, Mexico), Lucas Barrios (Borussia Dortmund, Germany), Rodolfo Gamarra (Libertad).