Soccer-Paraguay team for Copa America

SANTIAGO, June 6 (Reuters) - Profile on the Paraguay team for the Copa America: Previous appearances: 34 (first in 1921) Best performance: winners twice - 1953, 1979 Drawn in Group B with Argentina, Uruguay and Jamaica - - - - Coach Ramon Diaz: Diaz is in his first job as a national team coach having made a name for himself at club level, which included winning the South American Libertadores Cup with River Plate in 1996. The Argentine was appointed in 2014 shortly after steering River, where he began a successful playing career, to the Argentine title for the sixth time in his third spell and taking his tally to seven after also winning one with San Lorenzo. Diaz angered Paraguayan media for telling Reuters in an interview that he was basing his strategy on the team's traditional strengths in defence and in the air, saying that building a new team for the 2018 World Cup would take time. He has gone largely for experience in his squad picking strong, tall defenders like Mexico-based duo Paulo Da Silva, Paraguay's most capped player with 118, and Pablo Aguilar. Striker Roque Santa Cruz, the country's top scorer with 30 goals,hs been selected to lead an attack that includes Nelson Haedo Valdez and Lucas Barrios, also veterans of the side that reached the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals. - - - - Key player Nestor Ortigoza: Argentine-born Ortigoza is typical of the modern Paraguay midfielder with his command of the centre of the field, good marking and judicial ball distribution. He is also an accomplished penalty taker. He has spent all his playing career in Argentina, apart from the 2012/13 season with Emirates Club in the UAE, the highlight being victory in the Libertadores Cup with San Lorenzo last year, scoring the deciding goal with a penalty. The 30-year-old obtained Paraguayan citizenship in time to play in the 2010 World Cup side that reached the quarter-finals for the first time and the 2011 Copa America final in Argentina. Ortigoza will be looking to help Paraguay overcome the disappointment of failing to reach last year's World Cup finals in Brazil with a good showing in Chile in a group containing favourites Argentina and title holders Uruguay. - - - - FIFA world ranking June 2015: 85 Squad: Goalkeepers: Justo Villar (Colo Colo), Antony Silva (Independiente Medellin), Alfredo Aguilar (Guarani) Defenders: Paulo Da Silva (Toluca), Pablo Aguilar (America), Fabian Balbuena (Libertad), Marcos Caceres (Newell's Old Boys), Bruno Valdez (Cerro Porteno), Ivan Piris (Udinese), Miguel Samudio (America) Midfielders: Victor Caceres (Flamengo), Nestor Ortigoza (San Lorenzo), Osvaldo Martinez (America), Richard Ortiz (Toluca), Osmar Molinas (Libertad), Eduardo Aranda (Olimpia), Oscar Romero (Racing Club) Forwards: Roque Santa Cruz (Cruz Azul), Nelson Haedo Valdez (Eintracht Frankfurt), Raul Bobadilla (Augsburg), Lucas Barrios (Montpellier), Edgar Benitez (Toluca), Derlis Gonzalez (Basel) (Compiled by Rex Gowar; Editing by Ken Ferris)