Paraguay's Roque Santa Cruz, left, celebrates beside teammate Jorge Achucarro after scoring a penalty against North Korea during a friendly football game, in Nyon on May 15.FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP / Getty Images
Colours: Red and white striped shirt, blue shorts, blue socks.
Nickname: La albirroja (the white and red)
P revious World Cup appearances: 1930, 1950, 1958, 1986, 1998, 2002, 2006
Best World Cup performance: second round 1986, 1998, 2002
Coach: Gerardo Martino (Argentine)
Most capped player: Carlos Gamarra 110
Top goalscorer: Jose Saturnino Cardozo 25
Talking points: The loss of Salvador Cabanas, recovering after being shot in the head in an argument in a Mexico City bar in January, might affect Paraguay's chances. Coach Martino has a policy of calling up naturalized players, with four Argentine-born men in his provisional 30-man squad.
Players to watch: The Borussia Dortmund strike pair of Nelson Haedo Valdez and Lucas Barrios, if he makes the cut for the 23-man squad. Fellow striker Oscar Cardozo has been in fine scoring form for Benfica, while Roque Santa Cruz stands out for his experience.
Paraguay's goal is to go further than ever at the World Cup by reaching the last eight with a more attacking game than in the past, based on the experience of their leading players.
They go to South Africa shocked by the shooting of their emblematic striker Salvador Cabanas in a Mexico City bar in January, and determined to do well for their team mate who is recovering at a rehabilitation centre.
Paraguayans believe the team will finish in the top two of a relatively comfortable group with holders Italy, leaving Slovenia and New Zealand in their wake, though some fear a repeat of their disappointing 2006 finals when they failed to progress from the opening round.
Paraguay, overshadowed in South America by big neighbours Argentina and Brazil, have changed their game under Argentine coach Gerardo Martino, putting greater emphasis on attack and not depending solely on solid defence and aerial power, their traditional strengths.
In the last decade they have come to rival other teams for the third spot in South America's hierarchy. They qualified third behind Brazil and Chile but ahead of Argentina and Uruguay, despite a domestic game of limited resources.
Martino's plans took a nasty knock with the shooting of Cabanas, a key figure on and off the pitch, and he has sought to replace him beyond Paraguayan borders with the naturalization of Argentine-born striker Lucas Barrios which came through just in time.
It helped that Barrios, who scored 19 goals in his first season in the Bundesliga, plays alongside Paraguay striker Nelson Haedo Valdez at Borussia Dortmund and did not look likely to be called up by Argentina coach Diego Maradona.
Barrios, whose mother is Paraguayan, would fit in more quickly to the team set-up, having played with Haedo Valdez, argued Martino when confronted with criticism of the choice.
Martino has two more top strikers in Roque Santa Cruz and Oscar Cardozo and a midfield mix that includes two more Argentine-born players, Jonathan Santana and Nestor Ortigoza, who shared the junior ranks at Buenos Aires club Argentinos Juniors with Barrios.
"Whether we are strong (enough) or not, I don't know, but I do know we'll give all (our opponents) a fight," Martino said.