How Paraguay defy odds

Paraguay, an impoverished, land-locked country of five million in the heart of South America, has only 11 professional soccer clubs and only one stadium holding more than 40,000 people.

Attendances at professional games struggle to reach four figures and top clubs are criticised for failing to invest in their youth divisions.

Yet the country continues to produce talented young players and has a far more impressive curriculum than many bigger and richer neighbours.

The national team have reached the last 16 of the last two World Cups, a better record than Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, Russia, Japan and Nigeria and only slightly worse than Italy. Even Paraguayans find it difficult to explain.

8220;It8217;s a paradox,8221; said former goalkeeper Roberto Fernandez, who played at the 1986 World Cup. 8220;The clubs don8217;t give much importance to the grass roots but players still appear, it8217;s strange.8221;

8220;The youth divisions don8217;t get any help from the directors, there are clubs where groups of players have to make do with only three goals.8221;

Paraguay8217;s under-20 coach, Argentina8217;s Ernesto Mastrangelo, admits he was shocked after arriving from Boca Juniors, the biggest club in his homeland. 8220;At Boca, we give trials to 25,000 boys every year and select 30. They go to play in tournaments in Switzerland, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico and elsewhere.

8220;They get healthcare and education. Here, it8217;s a different world.8221; Yet the country continues to produce a regular supply of good players.

This year, Bayern Munich signed Cerro Porteno8217;s 22-year-old midfield playmaker Julio dos Santos, seeing him as a possible successor to Michael Ballack.

Nelson Haedo Valdez, another 22-year-old, has made a good impression at Germany8217;s Werder Bremen and midfielder Jose Montiel, who still plays for local club Olimpia, last year made his international debut at the age of 17.

Paraguay8217;s under-23 team reached the final of the 2004 Olympics after qualifying for the tournament in the first place at the expense of Brazil. Fernandez believes the sheer popularity of the game is one reason for Paraguay8217;s success.

8220;Paraguay is a football country, everyone plays football, here in the city and in the interior,8221; he said 8220;Everywhere, you see pitches where boys are playing.8221;

Paraguay also has a flourishing culture of football schools, which offer an alternative to the first division clubs. 8220;The boys in the football schools go abroad, they play in Brazil and Argentina,8221; said Fernandez. 8220;Most social clubs have football schools for eight to 14-year-olds.

8220;By the time they8217;re 15, they8217;ve been to Uruguay, Argentina and even Sweden. They have experience, that8217;s why Paraguay is producing players.8221;

Jose Parodi, who played in the Paraguay8217;s 1958 World Cup team, said Paraguay had always believed in themselves. 8220;We are the smallest and the poorest but we are very proud,8221; he said.

8220;We like to beat the biggest and we always believe we are going to win. We maybe poor but we never believe that someone is going to beat us.8221;

Paraguay will face England, Sweden and Trinind 038; Tobago in their first round group in Germany, the England match bringing back memories for Fernandez who was in goal when Paraguay lost 0-3 in a 1986 second round match. 8220;Our mistake was that we played a very attacking game, we didn8217;t worry too much about the defensive side and that left us exposed to the counter-attack,8221; said Fernandez.