The technician of Paraguay, Eduardo Berizzo, presented on Monday his list of 28 players for the matches against Peru Y Venezuela qualifiers for the Qatar World Cup 2022, a roster with a majority of players from foreign leagues and reinforcements from Cerro Porteño, the winner of the local Apertura, who aspires to “win big teams”.
“We aim to qualify, we want to develop a team capable of beating great teams. The hierarchy of the players makes me feel optimistic, we are ready to start,” Berizzo said at the virtual press conference after the presentation of the players.
Berizzo remained faithful in the list to a large part of the representation of the players of the foreign leagues that he presented ten days ago, ratifying Roberto Junior Fernández as goalkeeper and in the lead Ángel Romero or Antonio Sanabria.
At the local level, Berizzo has stocked up with five Cerro Porteño fences, which this weekend conquered the Apertura in advance, in the absence of a day, among them Juan Patiño and Santiago Arzamendia.
However, Berizzo pointed out that the list will be expanded as soon as this week the Paraguayan teams in competition finalize their commitments in the Libertadores: Olimpia, who plays against Santos; Libertad, against Boca Juniors, and Guaraní against Tigre.
In that sense, Berizzo stressed that the health situation due to the pandemic forces him to have about 32 players, from a list that will be those who will play against Peru, on October 8 in Asunción.
In response to this clash against the Peruvians, Berizzo said that he will prepare the team that will face Venezuela on October 13 in the Caribbean.
“Our idea of the game is to attack, be offensive, possess deep possessions, quickly recover the ball and send in the game,” said the coach, asked about his game scheme.
Regarding Peru and Venezuela, he said that they are “strong teams” that “we will imagine match by match.”
The 28 summoned:
Goalkeepers: Roberto Junior Fernández (Botafogo-BRA) and Antony Silva (Nacional).
Defenders: Gustavo Gómez (Palmeiras-BRA); Junior Alonso (Atlético Mineiro-BRA), Fabián Balbuena (West Ham-GBR); Juan Escobar (Cruz Azul-MEX); Blas Riveros and Omar Alderete (Basel-SUI) and Robert Rojas (River Plate-ARG)
Midfielders: Juan Patiño (Cerro Porteño-PY); Santiago Arzamendia (Cerro Porteño-PY); Alberto Espínola (Cerro Porteño-PY); Richard Sánchez (America-MEX); Celso Ortiz (Monterrey-MEX); Miguel Almirón (Newcastle United- GBR); Oscar Romero (San Lorenzo-ARG) ;, Andrés Cubas (Nimes-FRA); Gastón Giménez (Chicago Fire-USA); Ángel Cardozo (Cerro Porteño-PY); Mathias Villasanti (Cerro Porteño-PY) and Jorge Morel (Guaraní-PY).
Forwards: Ángel Romero (San Lorenzo- ARG), Hernán Pérez (Al Ahli Doha-QAT); Brian Zamudio (Rizespor-TUR); Adam Bareiro (Alanyaspor-TUR); Alejandro Romero (New York Red Bulls-USA); Darío Lezcano (Juárez-MEX) and Antonio Sanabria (Real Betis-ESP).