Back in the 2011 Copa América, what could have come as Paraguay’s most glorious day was instead the beginning of the end of the successful modern cycle of a nation that achieved successive World Cup classifications between 1998 and 2010. That afternoon, goals by Luis Suárez and Diego Forlán in the final in Buenos Aires piled-up to an easy 3-0 Uruguayan victory that bore witness to a perplexingly faint Gerardo Martino’s side. Arguably, that poor show just heralded what was to come: four different coaches in four years and the bottom place in South American qualifiers for Brazil 2014.
During that successful modern cycle Paraguay was never exactly the model of some sort of aesthetical football, but the blueprint of adamant tactical organization, ruthless finishing, and unforgiving braveness. It is somehow telling that, despite all the languid performances Paraguay put on during the qualifiers, in 2013 the team managed to collect a surprising 3-3 tie to Germany in a friendly match at Kaiserslautern. Although Joachim Loew lined up the likes of Mueller, Lahm, Khedira, Ozil and Reus, Paraguay always was on the lead and only a last-minute goal put the Germans level. The Guaraníes -as the Paraguayans are called for the country’s majority ethnic group- showed their lost pride and sheer guts at least one night on European soil.
As the 2015 Copa América fast approaches, however, the team’s perspectives look pretty uncertain. The Paraguayan Federation sacked Víctor Genes, the coach in charge for that German draw, and named Argentine boss Ramón Díaz in his place. For Pelado Díaz, this is his first job as coach of a national side being the case that his is a well established name in Argentina’s first division with River Plate and San Lorenzo de Almagro. Many Argentine pundits agree in saying that Díaz’s career has faded in recent times and he might be taking a country to reignite his career and thus resemble Gerardo Martino, who is now in charge of Argentina.
In his first two friendly matches Ramón Díaz has collected a goalless draw against Costa Rica in San José and a 1-0 loss to México in Kansas City. Notwithstanding cohesive play cannot be expected from the onset for a manager who landed on the job, Paraguay exhibited far too little basic football and far too much dirtiness. Consider the simultaneous debut of coach Gustavo Quinteros with Ecuador: Quinteros knows the Ecuadorean league, his tactical system does not represent a radical break from his predecessor, and he himself was bold enough to introduce some new players like Miller Bolaños and Ángel Mena. As a result, although Ecuador lost its friendly matches against México and Argentina, the play was fluent and fairly propositive.
Putting tactical issues aside, Díaz’s initial list of players included injury-prone Roque Santa Cruz -who did not play in either game- and a set of names from the Mexican league whose international value is either fading or yet to be proved. Paulo Da Silva, 35, might represent the first case; Édgar Pájaro Benítez, the second one. Oddly enough, Óscar Tacuara Cardozo, joint top-scorer in the Turkish league alongside Demba Bá, was omitted from these games. Omitted as well was young AS Roma’s Tonny Sanabria; FC Basel’s Derlis González was called but could not make it through legal issues.
Both Paraguay and Ramón Díaz are betting risky on this project: the federation is hiring a winning coach who, nevertheless, clearly does not know Paraguayan football in depth, and the coach who will lead a national side in transition for a Copa América which will feature better established teams like Ecuador, Venezuela, Chile and Uruguay.
During that successful modern cycle Paraguay was never exactly the model of some sort of aesthetical football, but the blueprint of adamant tactical organization, ruthless finishing, and unforgiving braveness. It is somehow telling that, despite all the languid performances Paraguay put on during the qualifiers, in 2013 the team managed to collect a surprising 3-3 tie to Germany in a friendly match at Kaiserslautern. Although Joachim Loew lined up the likes of Mueller, Lahm, Khedira, Ozil and Reus, Paraguay always was on the lead and only a last-minute goal put the Germans level. The Guaraníes -as the Paraguayans are called for the country’s majority ethnic group- showed their lost pride and sheer guts at least one night on European soil.
As the 2015 Copa América fast approaches, however, the team’s perspectives look pretty uncertain. The Paraguayan Federation sacked Víctor Genes, the coach in charge for that German draw, and named Argentine boss Ramón Díaz in his place. For Pelado Díaz, this is his first job as coach of a national side being the case that his is a well established name in Argentina’s first division with River Plate and San Lorenzo de Almagro. Many Argentine pundits agree in saying that Díaz’s career has faded in recent times and he might be taking a country to reignite his career and thus resemble Gerardo Martino, who is now in charge of Argentina.
In his first two friendly matches Ramón Díaz has collected a goalless draw against Costa Rica in San José and a 1-0 loss to México in Kansas City. Notwithstanding cohesive play cannot be expected from the onset for a manager who landed on the job, Paraguay exhibited far too little basic football and far too much dirtiness. Consider the simultaneous debut of coach Gustavo Quinteros with Ecuador: Quinteros knows the Ecuadorean league, his tactical system does not represent a radical break from his predecessor, and he himself was bold enough to introduce some new players like Miller Bolaños and Ángel Mena. As a result, although Ecuador lost its friendly matches against México and Argentina, the play was fluent and fairly propositive.
Putting tactical issues aside, Díaz’s initial list of players included injury-prone Roque Santa Cruz -who did not play in either game- and a set of names from the Mexican league whose international value is either fading or yet to be proved. Paulo Da Silva, 35, might represent the first case; Édgar Pájaro Benítez, the second one. Oddly enough, Óscar Tacuara Cardozo, joint top-scorer in the Turkish league alongside Demba Bá, was omitted from these games. Omitted as well was young AS Roma’s Tonny Sanabria; FC Basel’s Derlis González was called but could not make it through legal issues.
Both Paraguay and Ramón Díaz are betting risky on this project: the federation is hiring a winning coach who, nevertheless, clearly does not know Paraguayan football in depth, and the coach who will lead a national side in transition for a Copa América which will feature better established teams like Ecuador, Venezuela, Chile and Uruguay.
Perhaps, for now, the only thing Díaz needs to do is to restore Paraguay its unforgiving braveness and sheer guts.
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