Coach: Anibal Ruiz
Tactics: Quick going forward and clever in midfield.
Star Player: Roque Santa Cruz - Bayern Munich striker who is strong, fast and a good finisher.
Verdict: Have gone out at the two previous finals to 1998 winners France and 2002 runners-up Germany in the last 16. Could reach that stage again but anything more would be a surprise. Strong up front with Santa Cruz and the promising Nelson Haedo Valdez.
Ten things you didn’t know about Paraguay
1. Duelling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
2. Despite being entirely landlocked, Paraguay nonetheless boasts a navy of 21 ships.
3. Paraguay’s Itaipu dam is the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world. The amount of iron and steel used in its construction would build 380 Eiffel Towers.
4. The country was ruled by Alfredo Stroessner from 1954 until 1989, making him the longest serving dictator in the history of both America continents (he was “elected” President eight times).
5. Even though it has no coastline, the name Paraguay means “water that goes to the water”.
6. Paraguay remains the no. 1 country in the world for reported sightings of Adolf Hitler.
7. The Iguazu Falls, situated at the point where Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil meet, turned up in the 1979 James Bond film Moonraker as the setting for a typical piece of selfless 007 action: our hero sailed a boat over the waterfall before leaping from the craft replete with a ready made hand glider.
8. The most famous folk dance of Paraguay is the bottle dance, in which a female dancer embarks upon a self-consciously violent routine while balancing one or more water-filled vessels on her head.
9. The national drink of Paraguary is terere: shred dried leaves of the yerba maté tree (a species of holly) mixed with cold water and herbs. It is drunk through a metal straw.
10. The region of Paraguay called Presidente Hayes is named directly after US President Rutherford B. Hayes, who helped settle a boundary dispute in the 1800s.
