Paraguay were hard at work honing their air defence system against England’s expected bombardment led by the giant Peter Crouch in Saturday’s Group B opener in Frankfurt.

After featuring as a figure attracting some derision at the start of his England career Crouch has spread a little fear into the South Americans with last week’s hat-trick in a 6-0 friendly win over Jamaica.

With his 1m 98 (6ft 7in) frame, Crouch is the second-tallest striker around, giving four centimetres to Jan Koller of the Czech Republic, and on current form England expect great things of the beanpole in the absence of Wayne Rooney.

England’s potential trump card is Paraguay coach Anibal “Mano” Ruiz’s major concern and he was putting his men through their paces in a bid to lessen the impact of the ‘Crouch factor’, given that the player’s ability in the air is tailor made in theory at least to dovetail with David Beckham’s crosses.

Paraguay’s talismanic striker Roque Santa Cruz was asked Wednesday if he had come across anyone such as Crouch before.

“Yes, but only watching the NBA!” he replied with a laugh.

Paraguay, who exited to a Gary Lineker-inspired England in the second round in the 1986 finals in Mexico and made the last 16 again four years ago only to lose narrowly to Germany, arrived here under something of a cloud amid allegations that its football federation broke FIFA rules by selling some of its allocation of World Cup tickets to foreign agencies.

But their hopes of giving England a run for their money have been raised by Bayern Munich star Santa Cruz saying he is nearing full fitness despite missing much of the Bundesliga season following a knee operation.

Three Paraguayan players ply their trade in Germany - midfielder Julio Dos Santos also playing with Bayern while striker Nelso Haedo is on the books of Werder Bremen.

Draws in warm-up matches against Denmark and Norway have shown that Paraguay are not just in Germany for the ride but they suffered a blow ahead of the England game when it emerged veteran striker Jose Cardozo could miss the entire tournament after suffering a leg muscle tear in the May 27 friendly with Denmark.

In Cardozo’s likely absence, the two obvious options up front for the South Americans will be Nelson Valdez and Roque Santa Cruz, who is recovering from a knee problem.

How to stop Crouch at the other end is nonetheless the main concern for Ruiz, who will have noted that Norway scored twice with headers in the May 24 2-2 friendly draw with goalkeeper Justo Villar left clutching at thin air.

As a result Ruiz’s training workouts have been featuring a welter of set-piece plays from both flanks to work out how seek to nullify as best as possible the English threat in the air.

“Best to be forewarned,” Ruiz opined.

Midfield battler Cristian Riveros and Delio Toledo of Spain’s Real Zaragoza will be the men primarily charged with closing down the Beckham crossing machine in a bid to limit Crouch knock-downs as far as possible.

Brazilian-based skipper Carlos Gamarra exuded confidence, meanwhile, in insisting that “a little team can be the party pooper for a one of the big fish.”

Before jetting into Germany, Gamarra insisted that Sweden were better than England and that Paraguay’s meeting with Sven Eriksson’s side would be the crunch for both.

Source:Soccer News