Manchester City's Roque Santa Cruz and Paulo da Silva of Sunderland have been included in Paraguay's final 23-man World Cup squad.

Argentina-based quartet Eduardo Ledesma, Marcos Caceres, Marcelo Estigarribia and Jorge Achucarro have been cut by coach Gerardo Martino.

Also missing out are midfielder Sergio Aquino, Osvaldo Martinez and Olimpia defender Julio Manzur.

Manzur was a doubt after struggling with a thigh injury.

Martino told reporters that choosing the squad was not an easy choice to make.

He said: "Building the list is always hard, because you feel you are taking out a very important part of each player.

"Some of the players already knew in their heart that they were going to be excluded. Some others didn't."

WORLD CUP PHOTO ALBUM Do you have a photo with yourself and a star from Paraguay? Send us your photos to be in our World Cup Photo Album!

Paraguay face a friendly encounter against Greece in Switzerland on Wednesday as part of their warm-up for the tournament in South Africa.

In the World Cup, Paraguay will face reigning champions Italy, New Zealand and Slovakia in Group F.

Also among those included were Borussia Dortmund striker and freshly nationalised Argentine Lucas Barrios.

Barrios, whose mother is Paraguayan, has enjoyed a fine season with Dortmund, as has club mate Nelson Haedo Valdez, who also made the 23.

"I can imagine Paraguay causing some surprises in South Africa," said Barrios, who has scored 18 goals in the Bundesliga this season.

Santa Cruz has had a stop-start season with Manchester City because of a calf injury playing 20 games and scoring only four times since joining the club in June for £18m.

Paraguay squad:

Goalkeepers: Justo Villar (Valladolid/ESP), Aldo Bobadilla (Deportivo Independiente de Medellin/COL), Diego Barreto (Cerro Porteno).

Defenders: Claudio Morel Rodriguez (Boca Juniors/ARG), Denis Caniza (Leon/MEX), Paulo da Silva (Sunderland/ENG), Dario Veron (Pumas UNAM/MEX), Julio Cesar Caceres (Atletico Mineiro/BRA), Carlos Bonet (Olimpia), Aureliano Torres (San Lorenzo de Almagro/ARG), Antolin Alcaraz (FC Bruges/BEL).

Midfielders: Edgar Barreto (Atalanta/ITA), Cristian Riveros (Cruz Azul/MEX), Victor Caceres (Libertad), Enrique Vera (Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito/ECU), Jonathan Santana (Wolfsburg/GER), Nestor Ortigoza (Argentinos Juniors/ARG).

Forwards: Roque Santa Cruz (Manchester City/ENG), Nelson Haedo Valdez (Borussia Dortmund/GER), Oscar Cardozo (Benfica/POR), Edgar Benitez (Toluca/MEX), Lucas Barrios (Borussia Dortmund/GER), Rodolfo Gamarra (Libertad).

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version