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Michael Church

In a nation that borders both Brazil and Argentina, it's little wonder football is a way of life in land-locked Paraguay.
And yet, shoehorned between two of the giants of the global game, Paraguay have occasionally emerged from the shadows of their more illustrious - and significantly larger - neighbours to shine on the international stage.
Paraguay have twice been crowned Copa America winners, but no achievement in the past is capable of matching that of  this year's World Cup, where the country reached the quarter-finals for the first time.
Coach Gerardo Martino  brings his team to Hong Kong after a last-eight  finish in South Africa that saw Paraguay emerge from the group stages, having seen off defending world champions Italy.
Those performances in the opening stages of the competition were enough to make the world sit up and take notice. 
After holding Marcello Lippi's  Italy team to a 1-1 draw in their opening game and a 2-0 win over Slovakia, a 0-0 draw with New Zealand meant the Paraguayans had done enough to not only progress to the second round, but to win their group.
'The fact Paraguay qualified top of the group is historic,' said Justo Villar,  Paraguay's goalkeeper. 'We have something to celebrate but we're not getting carried away. 
'We've taken a big step forward but there's still some way to go. The match we really need to win is the next one. There's a lot of excitement in the camp and we've got to fuel that with good results.'
That next game was against three-time Asian champions Japan, a nation also looking to progress to the last eight  for the first time in their history.
But it was the Paraguayans who were to emerge victorious and the win over Takeshi Okada's  side - in a penalty shoot-out after a dreary scoreless draw widely seen as the worst game of the 2010 finals - set up a quarter-final meeting with Spain, the first time Paraguay had progressed further than the round of 16 at the World Cup.
'It was a very tight game, though I think we had a slight edge on our opponents,' said Martino after the shoot-out win in Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld Stadium.  'We showed more heart than football and, in a game like this, that's enough. 
'Other teams need to play more football to win. That said we're not going to understate the value of being among the top eight teams in the world. 
'The Japanese also worked really hard but luck was on our side. We've taken another step forward, but we've not achieved our goals yet.'
Defeating Spain, however, was to prove too much to ask of a nation of such limited resources as a solitary goal by David Villa  saw Vicente del Bosque's  side continue along a path that would ultimately see them claim the Spaniards' first ever world title.
The Paraguayans, though, had no need to feel downcast after a World Cup campaign that highlighted the country's footballing strength despite being home to a population of around 6.5 million.
'I think we needed a little more luck and we showed we could have won,' said striker Roque Santa Cruz  after the defeat. 'We've got the team to keep on progressing but we have to accept our fate. Spain weren't better than us, anything but, and we had our chances during the course of the game.'
The post-World Cup scene looked set to be all about change for the Paraguayans, however, as the hugely successful Martino announced his intention to stand down from his position as head coach.
But, in the weeks after the tournament and after long discussions with Juan Angel Napout,  the president of the Paraguay Football Association,  Martino did an about-turn.
Instead, the 47-year-old Argentinian - known in Paraguay as 'Tata' - announced he would stay on until the country had completed their involvement in the 2011 Copa America in Argentina, a tournament in which the Paraguayans will be targeting success.
The Paraguayans have won the title twice, the first as far back as 1953 and the most recent in 1979 when the nation finished ahead of Chile to claim the crown.
The current crop of players, though, is re-establishing Paraguay as a force on the South American scene, with a growing band of players establishing themselves as professionals beyond the confines of the domestic league.
Four of the squad bound for Hong Kong - Manchester City's Santa Cruz, Sunderland duo Paulo da Silva  and Cristian Riveros  as well as Antolin Alcaraz  of Wigan Athletic - currently play in the English Premier League, while captain and goalkeeper Villar is the regular between the posts for Spanish side Villadolid. 
Nine of the 19-man squad due at So Kon Po  represented Paraguay at the World Cup finals, meaning Hong Kong are destined for as tough a test as they have encountered recently.
We needed a little more luck ... We've got the team to keep on progressing but we have to accept fate
Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz after losing to Spain in the World Cup
From the shadows
1 The Paraguay Football Association was formed in 1906, with the federation joining Fifa in 1925
2 Paraguay have qualified for the World Cup eight times and they were one of the 13 nations to participate in the inaugural tournament in Uruguay in 1930, where they were eliminated at the group stages
3 Paraguay's run to the quarter-finals in South Africa was the country's best-ever World Cup performance. Previously they had reached the round of 16 in 1986, 1998 and 2002
4 The country has won the Copa America - the continental championship of South America - twice, in 1953 and 1979, while finishing runners-up on five occasions
5 Fifa estimates more than one million of Paraguay's 6.5 million people play football with 87,435 officially registered as players. The country is also home to 1,709 clubs



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