Sudamericano 2013: Paraguay U20s squad announced

The Paraguay U20s coach Víctor Genes has named his final 22 for the upcoming U20s Sudamericano in Argentina. Paraguay will play their first round matches in the city of Mendoza close to the Chilean border, approximately 850 miles from Asunción. Here we look at the key figures of the squad and below is a full list of the call ups with their full names, club and date of birth. Paraguay begin their campaign on January 9th against Colombia before playing the hosts on the 11th. They finish the group with games against Chile and Bolivia on the 15th and 17th. The top three will qualify for the hexagonal final.

DEFENCE

Junior Alonso of Cerro Porteño – Photo: Prensa Albirroja

Junior Alonso

Club: Cerro Porteño

D.o.B: 09 February 1993

Height: 184 cm

Weight: 80 kg

Foot: Left

Position: Central defender/Left Back

Captain of this side and a technically gifted defender who is very strong in the air, he recently proved his prowess with two headed goals in separate friendlies against Brazil the second of which you can see here. He was part of the excellent Cerro Porteño defence that won the both the 2012 Apertura and Clausura reserve championships, forming a partnership with fellow squad member Teodro Paredes at the back.

Gustavo Gomez

Gustavo Gomez Photo: golazotropical.com.py

Club: Libertad

D.o.B: 06 May 1993

Height: 185 cm

Weight: 85 kg

Foot: Right

Position: Central defender

The 19-year-old has been training with the Libertad first team for all of 2012 and has picked up plenty of good advice from coach Pedro Sarabia, the former centre-back deserves credit for the Gumarelo’s excellent defensive record during the Clausura. Gomez is very athletic and physical and expect him to go stride for stride with the opposing forwards.

MIDFIELD

Jorge Rojas Photo: abc.com.py

Jorge Rojas

Club: Cerro Porteño

D.o.B: 07 January 1993

Height: 172 cm

Weight: 72 kg

Foot: Right

Position: Right winger

One of the most exciting young players in the Paraguayan Primera, we featured him here previously, who plays like an old-fashioned winger – plenty of pace and loves to run at his full back. His form earned him a call up to the senior Paraguayan side under Chiqui Arce where he impressed coming off the bench against Guatemala. Expect him to provide the bullets for the strikers during this tournament.

Rodrigo Alborno

Alborno scores for the U20s in a friendly

Club: Novara, Italy

D.o.B: 12 August 1993

Height: 183 cm

Weight: 73 kg

Foot: Left

Position: Versatile midfielder

Rodrigo Alborno played so well for Paraguay U17s in the 2011 Sudamericano that he was signed by Inter Milan forming part of Andrea Stramaccioni’s Primavera (reserves) squad before the coach took the top job at the Italian club. Alborno was a key part of the Inter U19s side that won the prestigious NextGen Series last year scoring a penalty during the final shootout. This season he has been a regular starter at Serie B side Novara where he is currently on loan. You can read the exclusive interview with Rodrigo Alborno here.

Iván Ramirez

Ivan Ramirez is front row first on the left (I think!)

Club: Libertad

D.o.B: 08 December 1994

Height: Unknown

Weight: Unknown

Foot: Right

Position: Central Midfield

A very exciting midfielder who is yet to play any senior football but has shined for the Paraguay U20s. He is a box-to-box midfielder with good organisational skills and an excellent capacity to cover all of the field helping his teammates both defensively and offensively. He possesses a good shot from distance and has the ability to win the ball back to begin counter attacks, expect Paraguay’s fortunes to be closely tied to Ramirez’s individual performances.

ATTACK

Cecilio Dominguez with the Copa Ciudad de Arequipa – Photo: Cecilio Dominguez

Cecilio Dominguez

Club: Sol de América

D.o.B: 22 July 1993

Height: 179 cm

Weight: Unknown

Foot: Right

Position: Striker

Cecilio Dominguez like Jorge Rojas has plenty of first team experience with his club in Paraguay, he has a good presence in the area despite not being particularly tall and has showed signs of a predatory insticnt as this goal against Peru recently indicates. He scored his first senior goal in dramatic fashion, a last minute header against Cerro Porteño in the final game of the 2011 Clausura.

Derlis Gonzalez

Derlis Gonzalez – Photo: Prensa Selección de Fútbol Paraguaya

Club: Benfica, Portugal

D.o.B: 20 March 1994

Height: 172 cm

Weight: 66 kg

Foot: Right

Position: Forward

The diminuitive attacker is the only other foreign-based player alongside Rodrigo Alborno and like his colleague he was also scouted by a European club following a successful U17s Sudamericano. The former Rubio Ñu man isn’t part of the first team but is part of the newly formed Benfica B side that plays in the Liga de Honra. The Portuguese giants harbour the long-term dream that he can following in the footsteps of Oscar Cardozo and Lorenzo Melgarejo, in the short-term the albirrojita will want him to help unbalance defences with his pace and excellent dribbling.

NOTABLE ABSENTEES

Maurito Caballero – the striker is one of the most promising talents in Paraguayan football but an ongoing legal dispute between the player and his former club, Libertad means he is not eligible for selection under APF rules. Expect him to be at Porto once this dispute is resolved.

Claudio Correa – a teammate of Derlis Gonzalez at Benfica he seems to be have left out for injury otherwise he would certainly have had the quality to be in the squad

Miguel Medina – another foreign-based forward, the Udinese player took part in the warm up games but hasn’t been considered

FULL SQUAD LIST

Full squad list for the 2013 Sudamericano

By Ralph Hannah

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