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For a small country of only six million people Paraguay are big on the world football stage, but they are still wary of taking on the lesser ranked Socceroos on Saturday night.
The world’s No.17 team will be Australia’s highest ranked opponents since the World Cup when they go head-to-head in a friendly at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Paraguay have qualified for the World Cup eight times, reaching the quarter-finals this year only to be knocked out by the eventual champions Spain, and have won South America’s biggest competition, the Copa America, twice.
But Paraguay’s Argentinian head coach Gerardo Martino isn’t discounting the Socceroos for a second.
“I don’t think there is a big gap between the level of South American football and Australian football at the moment,” he said.
“Australia is very competitive.
“Countries like Australia, Japan and New Zealand all did very well at the World Cup this year so it’s always good to get experience against them.”
Paraguay, who are off to New Zealand after their Sydney clash, will be missing a few key players with Oscar Cardozo, Lucas Barrios and Manchester City’s Roque Santa Cruz all not making the trip Down Under.
But with the likes of striker Nelson Valdez in the squad, the Socceroos’ defence will have a tough task on their hands.
After nine years in Germany’s Bundesliga where he played most recently with Borussia Dortmund, Valdez switched to Spanish side Hercules this season and has already turned heads scoring a brace in a shock upset of giant’s Barcelona at the Nou Camp.
Sunderland defender Paulo Da Silva however, is impressed with our Australian exports.
“Of course I’m aware of the Australians playing in England,” he said.
“Players like Tim Cahill, (Brett) Emerton, (Richard) Garcia are all very well known in the Premier League. Especially Tim Cahill.”
Striker Josh Kennedy, who’s currently making waves in Japan as the J-League’s top scorer with current club Nagoya, will also be a player the Paraguayans will be watching.
“We don’t really focus on man-to-man marking, but we’ll deal with Kennedy and any other striker as best as the team can defensively,” Da Silva said.
With the decision on the 2022 World Cup less than eight weeks away the Aussies will be looking to impress Paraguayan Nicolas Leoz, the long-time boss of the South American confederation who has made the trip to Sydney.
And Martino believes Australia is a shoe-in to be granted the hosting gig.
“It’s very simple. You have already held a competition like the Olympics here and you have all the infrastructure, plus Australia is a first world country,” Martino explained.
“So I think you have a very good chance to get win your World Cup bid.”
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