I really don't have much to complain about the list, a good mix of young guys and the old guys need to be there for the leadership role.
Conejo Benitez is on fire in Mexico. We look to be very well stacked in the forward department, and to think that at one time we couldn't get a decent forward to save our lives after Cabanas.
Say what you want about Lezcano but I can't think of a better forward we've had since Cabanas. That 2nd goal against Ecuador was a beauty. I really really like the way this team is going, it's such a shame we couldn't hold on to the win but I'm happy with a tie in the altura of Quito.
Lezcano Had a great game, he lived up to all the hype that sourrouned him in the last few months, I liked the team , lot of heart and huevos, to me that is more important than playing well plus getting that point from Quito is very important, shame for the Referee not calling the offside. I think Ramon diaz deserves a lot of credit for getting our confidence back, He has a wining record going back decades and people like Chilavert and the Paraguayan press, needs to STFU and let the guy do his job.
Probable lineup vs Brasil, That is a very very strong lineup. Romero and Iturbe will cause alot of headaches.
Ramon Diaz lost that game yesterday. Playing Derlis Gonzalez over Romero? Derlis Gonzalez is in terrible form right now, Romero is in fantastic form and is a far better player, he would have made a huge difference yesterday yet he got 0 playing time in both games. Playing Villar over Silva? Silva was great in the games he played in the qualifiers, why bench him for an old keeper who clearly lost his touch? Those 2 goals yesterday where all on Villar.
Have you seen the video of Iturbe standing around and Danny Alves just running past him? I can't copy paste it but if you didn't like the guy before you'll hate him after the video. I think Ramon Diaz ********ed up big time by putting on Iturbe, If you understand Paraguayos you'll know that no matter who we have put in, we would have been all been playing in our box the last 15 minutes, he might as well put in someone who can defend instead of that moron, or Romero to try to hold the ball, either way it is a shame that we lost 4 points in in the last 4 minutes. As for Derlis Gonzales, I can understand why he was starting, he didn't have a great game against Ecuador but he earned a starting spot on the team (which he is losing now) so starting him to me was the right call, if we didn't have 2 forced substitutions, I'm pretty sure Romero would have taken his place. As for Villar, have you seen Silva play lately ? all the stupid goals that he is allowing in Cerro he is terrible, he is not even 3rd goalie for Paraguay, The truth is that we don't have many options at goal, I would call Barreto and let the kid from Guarani get playing time in the next Copa america, to see how he does, but Silva to me is not even an option.
I was as pissed as anyone else about losing those points but after calming down and thinking about it, I am more optimistic about our chances of making it to the WC, than I was 1 week ago, a lot of players are finally living up to the hype, Lezcano, Pajaro, played great in both games, Ortigoza was one of the best players in both games he is really making a difference, the old guys are still in great form, Dasilva who was too old according to everyone all the way back in SAfrica 10 has been one of the best players this entire Elimantorias not 1-2 games All of them, Roque had the best game I seen from hame in the last 5 years and we even have players like Romero waiting for their chance. The first half yesterday was the best I seen from Albirroja in years and even though Ramon messed up tactically, I think he is doing a really good job, the confidence he is giving to this team , is going to pay off in the long run.
Yesterday's team wasn't bad at all, we got mostly young guys with with a decent amount of experience, overall the team looks pretty good Romero and Piriz da mota are outstanding, it would have been good to see mendieta too but it's still not bad, I'm looking forward to Copa America.
With Romero out, whose the likely replacement? I just can't understand why we played so timid against Costa Rica and decided to give Colombia a two goal handicap before showing up. At least needing to win, maybe we try a new style that works J stead of just defending with 10 guys. Gotta be careful though, the us has proven pretty decent on the counter. At least it should be a good game. Better be, the Copa ticket prices have not been cheap.
Ramón Díaz confirmó el equipo de #Paraguay: Villar; Da Silva, Gómez, Balbuena, Samudio; González, Ayala, Ortiz, Almirón; Lezcano y Sanabria, this is supposed to be the line up for tomorrow, I think this is it for ramon, if we lose tomorrow, he has to go, too many fvck ups on his part one after another, I was on his side but I"m getting tired of his crap, we better win I'm driving 4 hours each way for this game.
Now that the clown is gone can we actually please invest in a REAL coach? Ramon Diaz was nothing but a lie. He was great at River but pretty much failed everywhere else. Just ask America fans. His numbers with us where deplorable. The worst out of any recent coach we had, even worse then Pelusso's.
I'm sure the entire country of Paraguay know Ramon Diaz is not good enough. However I've gotta admit that the paraguayan player pool is veeeeery limited. I mean, where are the times of Cardozo, Chilaver, Cabañas? If Benitez, a 3-goal a season is the starter centre-forward for the MNT it means that the standards dropped...heavily
One honest question... I see that Paraguay relies a lot on the Liga MX. Even more than the mexican NT. How do you guys feel about that? do you think it is a good league to rely on? if not, why do you think the best paraguayan players are going to mexico instead of europe?
The reason Benitez is a starter is because Ramon Diaz is an idiot. We actually have far more talent then we had in past decades but Ramon Diaz was clueless on how to use them. Martino (and other coaches) did far more with much less. Hopefully we can finally stop experimenting with coaches and actually get a serious coach.
Paraguay players go to Mexico because Mexican teams offer big money for them and for alot of the players it's a good deal because their making good money, not too far from home, and don't have to deal with a language barrier. I wouldn't say we depend on the Mexican league I think it's more of the other way around. Ofcourse we're gonna have alot of Mexican based players on the NT when half of our talent pool is playing there. Just this morning I read that Jaguares wants to sign Jorge Moreira and just recently Monterrey signed Celso Ortiz.
A few years ago when we were cruising through WCQ we had most of our starters playing in the mexican league, I personally think the Mexican league has been good to us and I don't think that's our problem, we been making a lot of stupid mistakes with coaches. I rather have our players playing in Mexico where they get the respect they deserve and make decent money, than bearly getting any playing time in an European team fighting relegation.
I"m really disappointed with Ramon Diaz, I really wanted the guy to get a fair shot and make the team work but he made too many mistakes that costs us 4 point sin the the Eliminatorias and this embarrassing copa america performance. I did let him know I wasn't happy with him last saturday, I was sitting 2 rows directly behind him, and when I started heckling him he told me to shut up, then I let him have it and his stupid ass son challenged me to fight LOL.
Watching team USA reminds me of our team back in the days, before our new players started believing that they got talent and don't have to hustle anymore, how I miss the days when we scored a goal and could hold the lead for 90 minutes against the best teams in the world, when we hacked the shit out of anyone who caused trouble and I missed the Centro, Cabeza goal more than anything damn it !! we got to go back to basics and we can get back to the top in no time.
Our players changed alot. It's not gonna be easy to go back to that when now we have attack minded players like Romero, Almiron, Piris Da Motta. To be honest I prefer how we play now then before. This new pool of players are far more talented then what we had before. The problem is that we had that style of play for so long that we still haven't figured out how to transition. What we need is to adjust to the change a find the right formula to utilize the talent we have correctly. We didn't play bad at the Copa. We dominated Costa Rica, we dominated the US, and we dominated Colombia in the 2nd half. We just couldn't score a freakin goal.
The players that we call to the NT changed a lot, but you can go to any pick up game in PY and you'll find 10 mascheranos hacking the crap out of each other and doing whatever it takes to win. I think the main problem is that we are trying to be something we are not and we are playing teams at their game, to us Romero, Almiron and others are talented players but even thought they are more talented than what we are used to, They are still nowhere near as good as what the other teams have, Colombia has James, chile Vidal even Peru has way more talented players than us, we were always outmatched there but we always managed to get results. A lot of the old Players like Ayala, Acuna and others said this week, what's the point of playing pretty and losing Ayala said, I rather play the Centro-Cabeza-goal and win, than playing pretty and lose to anyone, Centro-cabeza-goal was the one thing we were better at than anyone in the world, yet here we are doing stupid "set plays" from corner kicks, I still remember when a corner kick used to be celebrated as a penalty kick, now you have to morons next to each other passing the ball and wasting the one lethal weapon we always had.