U20s World Cup: Paraguay squad profile

Victor Genes did a wonderful job to guide Paraguay to 2nd place in the Sudamericano and almost won the tournament something they have only done once in 1971. The core of the team that did so well remains with some serious firepower added up front – Claudio Correa of Benfica joins Tonny Sanabria of Barcelona who did so well for the U17s he has been moved up an age group to try and bring glory in Turkey. Here we breakdown the squad to look at the strengths and weaknesses of this side. Group Fixtures and the full squad list are at the bottom.

Paraguay overcame Turkey in their first friendly – Photo: Seleccion Paraguaya de Futbol

Defence: Other than the two goals conceded in the last game against Colombia, the defence stood firm when the going got tough in the final round of the Sudamericano. Since January the three Cerro Porteño players have been involved in the first team with Teodoro Paredes considered a starter. The goalscoring centre-back Matias Perez wasn’t a mainstay with champions Nacional but has proved he is still a danger from set pieces scoring in the warm up game against Croatia. Gustavo Gómez has been used a lot by Libertad coach Ruben Israel. There is no doubt this defensive unit is even stronger than six months ago.

Midfield: Defensive midfield might be the weak link here, Iván Ramirez is excellent in a man-marking role (just ask Argentina´s Ricardo Centurión) but could struggle when asked to cover a wider area. Rubio Ñu duo Gustavo Viera and Angel Cardozo Lucena did seem to show signs of tiredness towards the end of the competition although they’ve seen more first team action now and maybe more suited to the rigours of football at this level. Looking further up the field and there are no worries in the shape of Miguel Almirón a wonderfully gifted footballer with all the makings of a top playmaker, he has come on as a substitute for Jonathan Fabbro several times at Cerro and made an impact when he scored his first senior goal, the winner, against Rubio Ñu in April.

Miguel Almirón is a great player with time on the ball – Photo: Seleccion Paraguaya de Futbol

Forwards: Oh wow. If you haven´t seen these boys before you are in for a treat. The front three is likely to be Benfica’s future signing Jorge Rojas on the right, Benfica’s existing signing Derlis Gonzalez on the left and Barcelona’s Tonny Sanabria down the middle. Rojas offers frightening pace while Derlis Gonzalez brings his skill and finishing touch to the albirrojita. As for Sanabria he is all of that combined, a really fantastic player who showed plenty of the talent that has made him the toast of La Masia, here is his double against Argentina in case you are in any doubt. Then there is the bench, another Benfica man Claudio Correa is a powerful striker as his nickname “Ogro” (ogre) might suggest, another man really pushing for a start is Cecilio Dominguez, he had three goals in four games for Sol de América and then popped up with the winner against Turkey in the recent friendly. The other striker is Brian Montenegro who can play on the left-hand side too, he is currently at Rubio Ñu but did have a spell at the West Ham academy last year.

Notable Absentees: Rodrigo Alborno of Inter Milan is injured, while Porto´s Maurito Caballero is still the victim of internal politics at the APF. It is a shame neither were on the plane to Turkey.

Paraguay victorious against Croatia in their final warm-up – Photo: Selección Paraguaya de Fútbol

Fixtures

22 June vs Mali Kamil Ocak Stadium, Gaziantep (21:00  local time, 14:00 Paraguay time)

25 June vs Mexico Kamil Ocak Stadium, Gaziantep (18:00 local time, 11:00 Paraguay time)

28 June vs Greece Huseyin Avni Aker Stadium, Trabzon  (18:00 local time, 11:00 Paraguay time)

Full Squad List

Goalkeepers (3): Diego Morel (Libertad), Armando Vera (Libertad), Alejandro Bogado (Guaraní).

Defenders (7): Miller Mareco (Rubio Ñu), Teodoro Paredes (Cerro Porteño), Junior Alonso (Cerro Porteño), Gustavo Gómez (Libertad), Aquilino Giménez (Olimpia), Jorge “Manu” Balbuena (Cerro Porteño), Matías Pérez (Nacional)

Midfielders (7): Iván Ramírez (Libertad), Ángel Cardozo Lucena (Rubio Ñu), Robert Piris Da Motta (Rubio Ñu), Miguel Almirón (Cerro Porteño) , Gustavo Viera (Rubio Ñu), Juan Villamayor (Libertad)

Forwards (5): Brian Montenegro (Rubio Ñu), Claudio Correa (Benfica), Arnaldo Antonio “Tonny” Sanabria (FC Barcelona), Derlis González (Benfica), Cecilio Domínguez (Sol de América), Jorge Rojas (Benfica)

Apertura 2013: Nacional champions, five reasons why La Academia finished top of the class

There are still a few games to be played but Nacional are champions, they were simply unstoppable in the Apertura this season as they played entertaining football to thrash teams at times or dug in when necessary to record 1-0 victories. The Tricolor’s triumph is their third since 2009 which completes a hattrick of league championships for club president Robert Harrison.

Nacional champions – Photo: D10.com.py

Harrison must take credit for keeping his faith in young coach Gustavo Morinigo who had come so close in the 2012 Clausura but finished three points behind Libertad. Here we look at the five reasons for Nacional´s ninth title in their 108-year-history.

1. Julian Benítez

When Rodrigo Teixeira returned to Guaraní it meant the Academia had lost their main goalscorer over recent seasons, but in a shrewd bit of business they got then 25-year-old striker Julian Benitez as part of the deal. Sparingly used by Guaraní since his return from Mexico, where he played for León and Toros Neza from 2011 to 2012, there was the feeling that the diminuitive striker wasn’t going to fulfill his potential. But Morinigo got the best out of him playing him as the last man either up front alone or alongside a more physical teammate such as Ramón Cardozo. Benítez has great movement which always saw him find space inside the box, such as this header against Olimpia, or for the first of his two goals against Luque. Against General Díaz he came in off the left wing to score the winner and he often grabbed goals when it mattered like his brace against Cerro Porteño (the 1st and 3rd goals) in the Barrio Obrero derby. At the time of writing Benítez has 13 goals in 15 starts, he has been critical to Nacional’s success.

2. Big games

After a good start the question was how would Nacional fare when they met one of the big 3 (Cerro, Olimpia, Libertad) with last season’s defeat to a Cerro B team that crushed their title hopes still fresh in the memory. But a 3-0 win over Olimpia followed by a 4-1 rout of Cerro quashed any ideas that they would be fazed. To date they have played the Big 3 five times this year notching up five wins with a goal difference of +9.

3. Cleansheets

A former defender, Gustavo Morinigo must have been concerned after the first two games of the season that saw his team had conceded eight goals. But after that they recruited veteran goalkeeper Justo Villar and so began a run of six cleansheets in seven games with the 2011 Copa America Goalkeeper of the Tournament making a crucial penalty save in the 1-0 win over General Diaz. Raúl Piris must also be commended, the captain and stalwart has won his 3rd title and it was fully deserved as he marshalled the defence superbly throughout the year.

4. Midfield

Marcos Melgarejo was key this year – Photo: abc.com.py

The Uruguayan duo at Guarani (Palau/Orteman) the return of Guiñazú to Libertad, the holy trinity at Cerro (Oviedo/Dos Santos/Fabbro) all were put in the shade by the midfield unit of Marcos Riveros, Silvio Torales, Marcos Melgarejo and whoever joined them (be it Caceres Cañete, Ruiz Peralta or Cristaldo). Riveros was the anchor and protected his back four while starting attacking moves from the base of midfield, ably supported by Silvio Torales who is more technical and could use his range of passing to launch counter attacks. Melgarejo was immense once again, scoring seven from midfield including the winner against Libertad (his previous club) in both games.

5. Copa Libertadores

As is usual a team outside of the Copa Libertadores has picked up the Apertura title, while not wanting to take away from Nacional’s tremendous achievement it is impossible to overlook the physical and mental strain this tournament has on the teams involved. The long travel distances and the need for alternative sides in league matches often affects competing teams. Cerro Porteño probably wouldn’t have won the league but Libertad and Olimpia can both point to the premiere club tournament on the continent as major distraction, something that narrowed down the potential challengers to the Tricolor.

By Ralph Hannah

Apertura 2013 Week 19: Cerro de Franco vs Olimpia and Cerro Porteño vs General Díaz previews

Cerro de Franco vs Olimpia
Estadio Felipe Gimenez, Presidente Franco
16/06/2013; 15:00 (20:00 BST)
TV: Unicanal (Paraguay)

Olimpia, currently four games unbeaten, travel to the east of the country to try and finally beat Cerro de Franco there having drawn both away games the previous year. However this will be the first time ever that Olimpia have played in the Franqueño’s stadium, last year the games were down the road in Ciudad del Este. Cerro de Franco have been struggling recently even at home where they have just two points from the last five games.

Photo: Club Olimpia Oficial

Cristian Andersen is on the verge of joining Libertad but he will play in his usual creative role today with Sergio Samudio the main figure up front. Miguel Portillo’s side have found life difficult towards the end of the season, the smaller squad size and maybe feeling difference of not having Rogerio Leichtweis whose goals saved them of several occassions during 2012.

Olimpia are missing several players, Juan Manuel Salgueiro has gone to Uruguay for some R&R while Richard Ortiz played his final game for the club on Wednesday night. Even hattrick hero Juan Carlos Ferreyra is expected to take a back seat with Arnaldo Castorino and Enzo Prono leading the line. In defence it is the veteran duo of Julion Manzur and Carlos Humberto Paredes who will try and shore things up, El Decano have conceded 8 goals in the last five league outings.

Prediction: 1-1

Best Bet: Without Ortiz, Salgueiro, a makeshift defence and the fact that there is little league motivation it makes no sense backing the away side, knowing Cerro de Franco’s head-to-head record (4 draws, 1 defeat) the tempation is Cerro de Franco DNB to see if they can finally sneak that win against Olimpia

Cerro de Franco XI (probable): Juan Espinola, Gustavo Noguera, Jorge Aguero, Gustavo Velazquez, Cristian Ramirez, Pedro Vera, Salvador Portillo,  Miguel Godoy, Reinaldo Lopez, Cristian Andersen, Sergio Samudio

Olimpia XI (probable): Blas Hermosilla; Alejandro Silva, Julio Manzur, Carlos Humberto Paredes, Richard Salinas, Eugenio Montiel; Wilson Pittoni, Eduardo Aranda, Tomás Guzmán; Enzo Prono, Arnaldo Castorino

There is a live market of this game available on Betfair

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Cerro Porteño vs General Díaz
La Olla, Asunción
16/06/2013; 17:50 (22:50 BST)
TV: Unicanal (Paraguay)

Cerro Porteño need to keep picking up points for the Copa Libertadores race and also get back to winning ways having drawn with Olimpia and lost to a resurgent Luque in the previous two games. General Díaz are on a worse streak than today’s rivals of course, after five straight wins at the beginning of the season they haven’t picked up another victory taking just six points in the 13 matches since.

La Olla is the scene for today’s game

Chiqui Arce has got defender Carlos Bonet back in the side after a long layout with a knee problem but has lost Jonathan Fabbro to injury. That means Oscar Romero willl start as playmaker behind his twin brother Angel Romero, both youngsters have been on sparkling form with the twins contributing seven goals in the previous six fixtures.

General Díaz looking to end their poor run of form – Photo: Club General Diaz

General Díaz have managed to find the net again recently, scoring one goal in each of their last four matches but the defensive solidity has evaporated. Just one cleansheet in these 13 winless games tells its own story,  once again the Aguila´s defence will be tested by Cerro´s fluid attacking movement especially the pace and guile of the Romero´s with Guillermo Beltrán offering the physicality up front. It could be a tough day for the side from Luque who concede three the last time these two sides met.

Prediction: 3-1

Best Bet: Cerro have abundant attacking talent and General Díaz are defending poorly, I think Cerro -1 works here

Cerro Porteño XI (probable): Roberto Junior Fernández; Carlos Bonet, Luis Cardozo, Víctor Hugo Mareco, Danilo Ortiz; Mathías Corujo, Fidencio Oviedo, Julio Dos Santos, Óscar Romero; Ángel Romero, Guillermo Beltrán

General Díaz XI (probable): Mario Santilli; Walter Cabrera, Rolando Sanabria, Jorge Caceres, Diego Vera; José Avalos, Crisitan Sosa, Carlos Vera Segovia, Robert Noguera; Daniel Ferreira, Gabriel Avalos

There is a live market of this game available on Betfair

For a list of my ‘Best Bets’ for all Sunday´s games, visit Free Bets Sport for my preview

By Ralph Hannah

Apertura 2013 Week 19: Nacional vs Guaraní preview

Nacional vs Guaraní
Defensores del Chaco, Asunción
15/06/2013; 17:30 (22:30 BST)
TV: Unicanal (Paraguay)

The newly crowned league champions take on Guaraní who are battling with Cerro Porteño and Libertad for a second-placed finish. In theory Nacional have little to play for, yet four wins in their final four games would break the record points total in a short season currently at 57 points (Libertad in the 2008 Apertura).

Nacional champions – Photo: D10.com.py

Morinigo refuses to take his foot of the gas and will feel his strongest side possible in this clash, a contractual clause means topscorer Julian Benítez is unable to play against his parent club with the replacement most likely to be Angel Orué. Another change is in goal with Justo Villar joining Colo Colo of Chile it allows for the return of stalwart Ignacio Don. Silvio Torales is suspended so Carlos Ruiz Peralta will step into the midfield.

Jubero (right) is caretaker boss following sacking of Diego Alonso (centre) – Photo: D10.com.py

The constant rumours over Diego Alonso have been put to bed with the young manager’s sacking this week, it means caretakers Fernando Jubero and Crispin Maciel will hold the fort. They are unlikely to rock the boat, the Teixeira/López partnership will continue up front as will the Uruguayan duo in central midfield (Orteman and Palau). The team’s impressive 8 game unbeaten streak was ended in midweek by Rubio Ñu and if we can’t be sure what will happen in tonight´s game we should expect plenty of goalmouth action, the Aborigen´s last five games have produced an average of 4.4 goals per game.

Prediction: 2-1

Best Bet: Both teams score a lot of goals, they have racked up 70 strikes between them in 36 matches played, and so Over 2.5 goals seems the way to go

Nacional XI (probable): Ignacio Don; Ramón Coronel, Raul Piris, Leonardo Cáceres, David Mendoza; Carlos Ruiz Peralta, Marcos Riveros, Ricardo Ortiz, Marcos Melgarejo; Cesar Caceres Cañete, Angel Orue

Guarani XI (probable): Pablo Aurrecochea; Eduardo Filippini, Julio César Cáceres, Miguel Paniagua, Elvis Marecos; Juan Aguilar, Marcelo Palau, Sergio Orteman, Ivan Gonzalez Ferreira, Rodrigo Teixeira, Dante López

There is a live market of this game available on Betfair

For a list of my ‘Best Bets’ for all Week 19′s games, visit Free Bets Sport for my preview

By Ralph Hannah

Apertura 2013: General Diaz vs Nacional preview

General Diaz vs Nacional
Defensores del Chaco, Asunción
10/06/2013; 16:00 (20:00 BST)
TV: Unicanal (Paraguay)

Nacional can wrap up the Apertura title, their third championship in four years, with a win today against a General Diaz team that was flying high. However, the Aguilas seem to have had their wings clipped as they are currently 12 games without a victory.

Caceres Cañete turns 36 today and is looking for the perfect birthday present – Photo: Club Nacional

Humberto Garcia relies on the normal central midfield pairing of Cristian Sosa and Carlos Segovia and up front will look to the experienced Daniel Ferreira. The team are usually physical and play in a 4-4-2 that can look like a 4-5-1 without the ball, they have profited from set pieces a lot this season.

This week the player’s have spoken about their spiritual unity, shown in the goal celebrations – Photo: Club Nacional Paraguay

Nacional were on the verge of winning the league just over a week ago but slipped up against lowly Luque with pre-title jitters assumedly creeping in. Having said that they should do the job today, Gustavo Moringio’s team have quality and steel especially the spine of Justo Villar in goal (who played on Friday for Paraguay against Chile), captain Raúl Piris who will win his third title with the club and in front of him in midfield Marcos Riveros who will surely want another opportunity abroad having failed to excel in Argentina. The technical quality and flair is provided by playmaker Cesar Caceres Cañete who proves three is the magic number having won titles in 2007 (Sportivo Luqueño), 2010 (Guaraní) and now is set to obtain the “triple crown” on his 36th birthday. Marcos Melgarejo has also been excellent on his return to the club from Libertad and like Raúl Piris will complete a hattrick of titles with the Tricolor assuming they do win today.

Prediction: 1-2

Best Bet: BTTS seems good with General Diaz nearly always managing to find the scoresheet and Nacional with just one cleansheet in their previous 5 games

General Diaz XI (probable): Mario Santilli; Walter Cabrera, Dionisio Mereles, Jorge Cáceres, Diego Vera; Pedro Arce, Cristian Sosa, Carlos Vera Segovia, Roberto Noguera; Alfredo Cano, Daniel Ferreira

Nacional XI (probable): Justo Villar; Ramon Coronel, Raúl Piris, Jose Caceres, David Mendoza; Ricardo Ortiz, Marcos Riveros, Silvio Torales, Marcos Melgarejo; Cesar Caceres Cañete; Julian Benítez

There is a live market of this game available on Betfair

By Ralph Hannah

Paraguay Football Blog is back (phew!) – coming up in June

I’m very relieved to be typing here, just over week ago in Buenos Aires my laptop cooler decided to stop working thus overheating itself and destroying the CPU. That is why there was absolutely nothing regarding the Paraguay vs Chile game, Roque Santa Cruz becoming the all-time topscorer for Paraguay and Gerardo Pelusso resigning. I hadn’t entered into deep depression about the result, or Paraguay’s failure to qualify!

I’m now back with a brand new laptop and ready to go. This is what you can expect this month…

Apertura 2013 comes to a conclusion so we’ll have the usual previews and round-ups, Team of the Year and a profile on the winners

Paraguay U20s left for Turkey today ahead of the U20s World Cup, expect previews for each game and a squad profile

Paraguay Abroad we look at some of the players moving abroad and those that have moved clubs

It’s good to be back

Ralph

Copa Libertadores 2013: Olimpia vs Fluminense preview

Olimpia vs Fluminense
Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción
29/05/2013; 21:00 (02:00 BST)
Quarter Final, 2nd Leg – 0-0 aggregate
TV: Fox Sports (Latin America); ESPN (UK)

Another record crowd, another night full of expectation in the Defensores del Chaco as Olimpia look for a place in the final four on the quest for their fourth Libertadores title. Fluminense will have cursed the name of Martin Silva several times last week as the big Uruguayan pulled off save after save to earn a valuable cleansheet for the Paraguayan side.

Silva was on top form in the first leg – Photo: D10.com.py

Olimpia have been surprisingly inconsistent defensively this year, they began 2013 with four cleansheets in five games – something they repeated between March and April – but they have still managed to concede 3 goals on seven separate occassions in their 26 competitive games this season. Although they looked fairly toothless in the first leg that was more in order to protect their own goal rather than a general scoring problem. In fact, Olimpia are averaging 2.6 goals at home in this season’s competition having never failed to score less than two goals to date. Salgueiro and Bareiro are the top scorers in the Defensores with 3 goals a piece but they will probably be accompanied by Juan Carlos Ferreyra to offer more of a presence up front.

Olimpia fans with their mosaic against Tigre – Photo: D10.com.py

Undoubtedly Fluminense were on top in the previous game and the energy of Rahyner was particularly hard for El Decano to deal with. They are expected to line up with the same team which is interesting considering the changes of personnel in the opposition. They are currently on a poor run of four away games without a win in the Copa Libertadores knockout stages, something they’ll be hoping to end tonight although a score-draw would see them through.

Olimpia XI (probable): Martín Silva; Salustiano Candia, Herminio Miranda, Julio Manzur; Richard Salinas, Jorge Baez, FAbio Caballero, Richard Ortiz; Juan Manuel Salgueiro; Fredy Bareiro, Juan Carlos Ferreyra

Fluminense XI (probable): Diego Cavalieri, Bruno, Digão, Leandro Euzébio, Carlinhos; Edinho, Jean, Wagner; Wellington Nem, Rhayner, Fred.

Prediction: 2-1

Selected Odds: Olimpia win 2.78, Draw 4.4, Fluminense win 2.88, 2-1 win 11.0, Over 2.5 goals 2.18

Best Bet: BTTS looks the way to go with both teams needing to score to qualify, also while Olimpia have the capability of scoring I’m unconvinced they have the defense to stop the Brazilians finding the net at least once.

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Stats and Trivia

Olimpia vs Brazilian opposition (All Continental Competitions)

Pld 76 W 22 D 22 L 32 GF 91 GA 117

Olimpia in Asunción (All Continental Competitions)

Pld 217 W 111 D 59 L 47 GF 351 GA 219

Last time Olimpia drew the 1st leg away from home 0-0 they won the return 2-0 to progress – that was in the preliminary round versus Defensor Sporting

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Authors Note: All odds are selected from Betfair Sports and accurate at the time of writing, there is a live market on this game

For more football previews check out CaStRoF’s betting tips

Apertura 2013: Olimpia vs Nacional preview

Olimpia vs Nacional
Defensores del Chaco, Asunción
26/05/2013; 17:20 (22:20 BST)
TV: Unicanal (Paraguay)

Once again Olimpia will field an alternative side as they concentrate on the Copa Libertadores, in theory it should be an easy win for Nacional although they could be suffering from complacency with the league title all but wrapped up. The Academia have only failed to score once this year and are averaging 2.2 goals per game as they sweep everybody aside, Olimpia have had their defensive lapses this season and concede almost 1.5 goals a game (1.43 to be precise).

Club Olimpia Oficial

It is a reserve team once again for Ever Almeida after the dogged result in Brazil has given them a golden chance to reach the last four on Wednesday. The safe pair of hands that is Martin Silva is replaced by the slightly more ‘flappy’ Victor Centurión and the defence that conceded three against Guaraní last week is likely to be employed. Up fron the good news is that Tanque Ferreyra starts again, his double last week was fully deserved for a typically physical performance from the Argentine battering ram.

This week the player’s have spoken about their spiritual unity, shown in the goal celebrations – Photo: Club Nacional Paraguay

Nacional have been unfazed by everything to date – they are swashbuckling against the smaller teams and in the big games they grind out results, just like the 1-0 win over Libertad two games ago. Justo Villar has been immense in goal while up front Julian Benítez has been scoring goals for fun, in fact that one game Nacional failed to score in was when Benítez was ineligible to play. Marcos Melgarejo is a player who deserves a chance outside of the country, the left-footer can play on either flank and often tests the goalkeeper having got behind his full-back with a clever run. The veteran Cesar Cáceres Cañete is simply a joy to watch, working in pockets of space with deft touches and incisve passing that makes up for his limited movement around the pitch.

Prediction: 1-2

Best Bet: Over 2.5 goals is the way to go, both sides more than capable of scoring but Olimpia’s leaky defence a cause for concern for the home team

Olimpia XI (probable): Victor Centurión; Aquilino Giménez, Kike Meza, Carlos Paredes, Richard Salinas; Blas Cáceres, Eduardo Aranda, Hernan Perez, Alejandro Silva; Juan Carlos Ferreyra, Enzo Prono

Guarani XI (probable): Justo Villar; Ramon Coronel, Raúl Piris, Jose Caceres, David Mendoza; Ricardo Ortiz, Marcos Riveros, Silvio Torales, Marcos Melgarejo; Cesar Caceres Cañete; Julian Benítez

There is a live market of this game available on Betfair

For a list of my ‘Best Bets’ for all Week 16′s games, visit Free Bets Sport for my preview

By Ralph Hannah

Copa Libertadores 2013: Fluminense vs Olimpia preview

Fluminense vs Olimpia
Estadio São Januario, Rio de Janeiro
21/05/2013; 21:00 (02:00 BST)
Quarter Final, 1st Leg
TV: Fox Sports (Latin America); ESPN (UK)

Olimpia are amongst the best 8 teams in South America and alongside Boca Juniors the only former champions still remaining in this year’s tournament. It has been an emotional (and lucrative) journey so far that not many would have precited after the opening game of their campaign, a drab 0-0 draw in the Preliminary round.  Tonight they face a team that also reached the quarter finals last year only to be knocked out by Boca Juniors, Brazil’s Fluminense are one of the most expensive squads in the competition with players such as Fred, Rafael Sobis and Deco in their ranks.

Photo: Club Olimpia Oficial

Olimpia haven’t met Fluminense before in international competition but the bad news is that they have never won in Rio de Janeiro in six attempts, drawing three and losing three. The most recent game was a thrilling 3-3 draw with Flamengo when El Decano scored a hattrick of goals in just 15 minutes to level the game. Incidentally the previous two times they won the cup (1990 and 2002) they also played games in Rio. The team is likely to be very similar to the line-up that defeated Tigre in the previous round, once again all eyes are on Fredy Bareiro up front who has found the net five times and sits just one goal behind topscorer Jô. In defence Herminio Miranda has been a revelation with his goalscoring and Salustiano Candia has been relatively impressive to date – they will have a difficult task tonight trying to contain Fluminense.

Current squad pay homage to the former winners – Photo: D10.com.py

Apart from the danger of former Lyon striker Fred, Olimpia have to contend with the confined surroundings of one of South America’s most intimidating arenas – the São Januario holds just 25,000 people but on entering the pitch the Paraguayan club will feel that the whole crowd are on top of them trying to squeeze the life out of them. Keep an eye out on referee Roberto Silvera’s performance as the Uruguayan will have a tough job in font of this crowd.

Fluminense XI (possible): Diego Cavalieri, Bruno, Digão, Leandro Euzébio, Carlinhos; Edinho, Jean, Wagner; Wellington Nem, Rhayner, Fred.

Olimpia XI (probable): Martín Silva; Salustiano Candia, Herminio Miranda, Julio Manzur; Richard Salinas, Jorge Baez, Eduardo Aranda, Richard Ortiz, Sebastián Ariosa; Juan Manuel Salgueiro; Fredy Bareiro

Prediction: 1-1

Selected Odds: Fluminense win 1.5, Draw 4.4, Olimpia win 8.2, 1-1 draw 8.4, Under 2.5 goals 1.82

Best Bet: Under 2.5 goals – just one of Flu’s home games went over (a 0-3 reverse to Grêmio) and expect this match to be tight with Olimpia unlikely to over-committ themselves.

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Stats and Trivia

Olimpia vs Brazilian opposition (All Continental Competitions)

Pld 75 W 22 D 21 L 32 GF 91 GA 117

Olimpia in Rio de Janeiro (Copa Libertadores)

Pld 4 W 0 D 3 L 1 GF 4 GA 5

Olimpia’s results on 22nd of the month in continental comps – W 4 D 1 L 3

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Authors Note: All odds are selected from Betfair Sports and accurate at the time of writing, there is a live market on this game

For more football previews check out CaStRoF’s betting tips

Apertura 2013 Week 14 Wrap: Guaraní beat Olimpia in thriller, Nacional open up 14 point gap

We should probably save us the time of sitting through anymore matches in this cold snap, the league is over isn’t it? Nacional went to Tuyucuá and beat their closest rivals Libertad 1-0 to open up a 14 point gap. They’ve been so efficient this season and once again relied on Justo Villar in goal who had an outstanding game. Libertad will feel aggreived at the goal wrongly disallowed for offside but we shouldn’t let it take away from the great side Gustavo Moringio has set up.

Once again it was Marcos Melgarejo who got on the scoresheet, he has been an integral part of this team on the verge of winning the championship.

Olimpia and Guaraní was a great game, end-to-end stuff with the aurinegro coming out on top against a team full of rested players. That said, Tanque Ferreyra’s two-goal performance for Olimpia must have Almeida scratching his head ahead of the game in Rio de Janeiro.

I went to the game with a group of foreigners enjoying the Paraguayan football experience for the first time and Joel Chury, co-creator of the Why Paraguay? website, made this short video about the game and Paraguayan football in general.

Another big winner with Nacional and Guarani was Cerro Porteño who now have three straight wins, they are on good form at the moment.

Week 14 Results: Cerro de Franco 1-3 Cerro Porteño; Olimpia 2-3 Guarani; Libertad 0-1 Nacional; Capiatá 3-4 Rubio Ñu; Luque 0-0 General Díaz; Carapeguá 1-1 Sol de América

Week 15 Fixtures (All 22 May 2013)

Sol de América vs General Díaz, Luis Alfonso Giagni, Villa Elisa, 15.00 (20:00 BST)
Carapeguá vs Cerro de Franco, Municipal de Carapeguá, Carapeguá, 15.00 (20:00 BST)
Nacional vs Capiatá, Defensores del Chaco,  Asunción, 15.00 (20:00 BST) TV
Guaraní vs Sportivo Luqueño, Rogelio Livieres, Asunción, 18.00 (23:00 BST)
Cerro Porteño vs Libertad, General Pablo Rojas, Asunción, 18.20 (23:20 BST) TV