Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino announced today that Manchester City striker Santa Cruz and Sunderland defender Da Silva are part of the squad after reducing the 30-man initial party to the official 23 which will travel to South Africa. Martino told reporters that it 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." Argentina-based quartet Eduardo Ledesma (Lanus), Marcos Caceres (Racing Club), Marcelo Estigarribia and Jorge Achucarro (both Newell's Old Boys) have been cut from the squad, as have Libertad midfielder Sergio Aquino, Osvaldo Martinez of Mexican club Monterrey and Olimpia defender Julio Manzur. Manzur, who played in the 2006 World Cup for Paraguay, was an expected exclusion as he has been struggling with a thigh injury, even though Martino had named him in the preliminary squad. Paraguay face a friendly encounter against Greece in Switzerland on Wednesday as part of their warm-up to the tournament. In the World Cup, Paraguay will face reigning champions Italy, New Zealand and Slovakia in Group F. Squad: Justo Villar (Real Valladolid, Spain), Aldo Bobadilla (Independiente Medellin, Colombia), Diego Barreto (Cerro Porteno); Denis Caniza (Leon, Mexico), Dario Veron (Pumas, Mexico), Julio Caceres (Atletico Mineiro, Brazil), Paulo Da Silva (Sunderland, England), Claudio Morel Rodriguez (Boca Juniors, Argentina), Antolin Alcaraz (Wigan, Eng), Carlos Bonet (Olimpia), Aureliano Torres (San Lorenzo, Argentina); Cristian Riveros (Sunderland, England), Enrique Vera (LDU Quito, Ecuador), Edgar Barreto (Atalanta, Italy), Jonathan Santana (Wolfsburg, Germany), Victor Caceres (Libertad), Nestor Ortigoza (Argentinos Juniors, Argentina); Roque Santa Cruz (Manchester City, England), Nelson Haedo Valdez (Borussia Dortmund, Germany), Oscar Cardozo (Benfica, Portugal), Edgar Benitez (Pachuca, Mexico), Lucas Barrios (Borussia Dortmund, Germany), Rodolfo Gamarra (Libertad).
