Tricolor at the Cup: Bobadilla gets Paraguay call-up, São Paulo's only man | OneFootball

One of the last national teams to announce its final squad for the World Cup, Paraguay confirmed this Monday (1) the 26 players called up to represent the national team during the tournament to be held in North America, which begins on the 11th.

São Paulo will therefore have its only representative at the World Cup, defensive midfielder Damián Bobadilla, one of the standout players of the tricolor side this season. He is also an important part of Argentine coach Gustavo Alfaro’s squad for the national team and will play in his first World Cup. With a minor injury, he had already been released by the club to represent his country.

Bobadilla will be the eighth São Paulo player to play in a World Cup for a foreign national team, and the first Paraguayan. Before him, the Tricolor had already had representatives from Uruguay, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador.

The Paraguayan team is in World Cup Group D, alongside one of the hosts, the United States, against whom they will make their debut on the 12th, as well as Turkey, their second opponent on the 20th, and Australia, their final first-phase rival in a match to be played on the 25th of this month.

Tricolor supporters were still hoping to see another São Paulo player called up by Paraguay, backup goalkeeper Carlos Coronel, a Brazilian naturalized by the country. The player, however, was left out of Alfaro’s final list.

Coronel was playing in the American MLS and came to São Paulo precisely to be closer to national team call-ups. At his new club, however, he had little space and played only twice, in the Copa Sudamericana.

Besides Bobadilla, six other players who play in Brazil were called up: Junior Alonso (Atlético-MG), Fabián Balbuena (Grêmio), Isidro Pitta (Bragantino), as well as Palmeiras trio Gustavo Gómez, Mauricio, and Ramón Sosa.

Check out Paraguay’s full squad:

Goalkeepers: Gastón Olveira (Olimpia-PAR), Gatito Fernández (Cerro Porteño-PAR), Orlando Gill (San Lorenzo-ARG).

Defenders: Juan Cáceres (Dynamo Moscow-RUS), Junior Alonso (Atlético-MG), Alexandro Maidana (Talleres-ARG), Gustavo Gómez (Palmeiras), Fabián Balbuena (Grêmio), Gustavo Velázquez (Cerro Porteño-PAR), Omar Alderete (Sunderland-ENG), José Canale (Lanús-ARG).

Midfielders: Andrés Cubas (Vancouver Whitecaps-CAN), Diego Gómez (Brighton-ENG), Matías Galarza (Atlanta United-USA), Damián Bobadilla (São Paulo), Braian Ojeda (Orlando City-USA), Mauricio (Palmeiras), Alejandro Gamarra (Al-Ain).

Forwards: Julio Enciso (Strasbourg-FRA), Miguel Almirón (Atlanta United-USA), Gustavo Caballero (Portsmouth-ENG), Ramón Sosa (Palmeiras), Antonio Sanabria (Cremonese-ITA), Gabriel Ávalos (Independiente-ARG), Alex Arce (LDU-ECU) and Isidro Pitta (Bragantino).

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.