1.
Paraguay
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Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the country from north to south. Due to its location in South America, it is sometimes referred to as Corazón de Sudamérica. Paraguay is one of the two landlocked countries that lie outside Afro-Eurasia, Paraguay is the smallest landlocked country in the Americas. The indigenous Guaraní had been living in Paraguay for at least a millennium before the Spanish conquered the territory in the 16th century, Spanish settlers and Jesuit missions introduced Christianity and Spanish culture to the region. Paraguay was a colony of the Spanish Empire, with few urban centers and settlers. Following independence from Spain in 1811, Paraguay was ruled by a series of dictators who generally implemented isolationist and protectionist policies and he was toppled in an internal military coup, and free multi-party elections were organized and held for the first time in 1993. A year later, Paraguay joined Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay to found Mercosur, as of 2009, Paraguays population was estimated to be at around 6.5 million, most of whom are concentrated in the southeast region of the country. The capital and largest city is Asunción, of which the area is home to nearly a third of Paraguays population. In contrast to most Latin American nations, Paraguays indigenous language and culture, Guaraní, in each census, residents predominantly identify as mestizo, reflecting years of intermarriage among the different ethnic groups. Guaraní is recognized as an official language alongside Spanish, and both languages are spoken in the country. There is no consensus for the derivation or meaning of the name Paraguay, the most common interpretations include, Born from water Riverine of many varieties River which originates a sea Fray Antonio Ruiz de Montoya said that it meant river crowned. The Spanish officer and scientist Félix de Azara suggests two derivations, the Payaguas, referring to the tribe who lived along the river. The French-Argentine historian and writer Paul Groussac argued that it meant river that flows through the sea, Paraguayan poet and ex-president Juan Natalicio González said it meant river of the inhabitants of the sea. Indigenous peoples have inhabited this area for thousands of years, pre-Columbian society in the region which is now Paraguay consisted of semi-nomadic tribes that were known for their warrior traditions. These indigenous tribes belonged to five language families, which was the basis of their major divisions. Differing language groups were generally competitive over resources and territories and they were further divided into tribes by speaking languages in branches of these families. Today 17 separate ethnolinguistic groups remain, the first Europeans in the area were Spanish explorers in 1516. The Spanish explorer Juan de Salazar de Espinosa founded the settlement of Asunción on 15 August 1537, the city eventually became the center of a Spanish colonial province of Paraguay
2.
Kit (association football)
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In association football, kit is the standard equipment and attire worn by players. The sports Laws of the Game specify the minimum kit which a player must use, footballers generally wear identifying numbers on the backs of their shirts. Professional clubs also usually display players surnames or nicknames on their shirts, Football kit has evolved significantly since the early days of the sport when players typically wore thick cotton shirts, knickerbockers and heavy rigid leather boots. The Laws of the Game set out the equipment which must be worn by all players in Law 4. Five separate items are specified, shirt, shorts, socks, footwear, goalkeepers are allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts. While most players wear studded football boots, the Laws do not specify that these are required, shirts must have sleeves, and goalkeepers must wear shirts which are easily distinguishable from all other players and the match officials. Thermal undershorts may be worn, but must be the colour as the shorts themselves. Shin pads must be covered entirely by the stockings, be made of rubber, plastic or a similar material, and provide a reasonable degree of protection. The only other restriction on equipment defined in the Laws of the Game is the requirement that a player must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player. In the event of a match between teams who would wear identical or similar colours the away team must change to a different colour. The England national team plays in red shirts even when it is not required. Many professional clubs also have a kit, ostensibly to be used if both their first-choice and away colours are deemed too similar to those of an opponent. Most professional clubs have retained the basic colour scheme for several decades. Teams representing countries in international competition generally wear national colours in common with other sporting teams of the same nation, shirts are normally made of a polyester mesh, which does not trap the sweat and body heat in the same way as a shirt made of a natural fibre. Depending on local rules, there may be restrictions on how large these logos may be or on what logos may be displayed, competitions such as the Premier League may also require players to wear patches on their sleeves depicting the logo of the competition. The captain of team is usually required to wear an elasticated armband around the left sleeve to identify him as the captain to the referee. Most current players wear specialist football boots, which can be either of leather or a synthetic material. Modern boots are cut slightly below the ankles, as opposed to the high-ankled boots used in former times, studs may be either moulded directly to the sole or be detachable, normally by means of a screw thread
3.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
4.
Copa Libertadores
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The CONMEBOL Libertadores, named as Copa Libertadores de América, is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world, the tournament is currently sponsored by Bridgestone and is thus known as the CONMEBOL Libertadores Bridgestone. The competition has had different formats over its lifetime. At the beginning, only the champions of the South American leagues participated, in 1966, the runners-up of the South American leagues began to join. In 1998, Mexican teams were invited to compete, and have contested regularly since 2000, today at least three clubs per country compete in the tournament, while Argentina and Brazil each have five clubs participating. Traditionally, a stage has always been used but the number of teams per group has varied several times. In the present format, the tournament consists of six stages, the six surviving teams from the first stage join 26 teams in the second stage, in which there are eight groups consisting of four teams each. The eight group winners and eight runners-up enter the four stages, better known as the knockout stages. The winner of the Copa Libertadores becomes eligible to play in the FIFA Club World Cup, Independiente of Argentina are the most successful club in the cups history, having won the tournament seven times. Argentine clubs have accumulated the most victories with 24 wins, while Brazil has the largest number of different winning teams, the cup has been won by 24 different clubs,13 of which have won the title more than once, and won consecutively by six clubs. The clashes for the Copa Río de La Plata between the champions of Argentina and Uruguay kindled the idea of a competition in the 1930s. In 1948, the South American Championship of Champions, the most direct precursor to the Copa Libertadores, was played and organized by Chilean club Colo-Colo after years of planning, held in Santiago, it brought together the champions of each nations top national leagues. The tournament was won by Vasco da Gama of Brazil, in 1958, the basis and format of the competition was created by Peñarols board leaders. On March 5,1959, at the 24th South American Congress held in Buenos Aires, the competition was approved by the International Affairs Committee. In 1966, it was named in honor of the heroes of South American liberation, such as José Gervasio Artigas, Bernardo OHiggins, José de San Martín, Pedro I, the first edition of the Copa Libertadores took place in 1960. Seven teams participated, Bahia of Brazil, Jorge Wilstermann of Bolivia, Millonarios of Colombia, Olimpia of Paraguay, Peñarol of Uruguay, San Lorenzo of Argentina, all these teams were domestic champions of their respective leagues in 1959. The first Copa Libertadores match took place on April 19,1960 and it was won by Peñarol, who defeated Jorge Wilstermann 7–1. The first goal in Copa Libertadores history was scored by Carlos Borges of Peñarol, the Uruguayans won the first ever edition, defeating Olimpia in the finals, and successfully defended the title in 1961
5.
Central Department
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Central is a department in Paraguay. With 1,929,834 inhabitants, it is the most populated, north, the departments of Cordillera and Presidente Hayes. West, the Argentine province of Formosa separated by the Paraguay River, and these along with other regions in the south section generate a good potential of resources for the diverse activities such as tourism and even agriculture. Central is one of the most benefited departments in terms of attendance in both elementary and higher education, with over 84% of assistance by people of age between 7 and 18, there is a predominance of assistance of males over females, by a margin of 6%. The attendance of public schools is greater, with 69. 9% of students attending them, in the Central department there are around 750 elementary education institutions and close to 350 higher education institutions. In the city of San Lorenzo resides the Universidad Nacional de Asunción which is a state-run University, the maximum temperatures are in the summer, reaching the 40°C, which sometimes can be even higher. In the winter, the temperature is 0°C. The annual average temperature is 22°C, rains vary approximately 1433 mm per year. The period between the months of January and February is the rainiest, and the driest period is during the months of June and August. The department is mainly watered by the Paraguay River and its affluents, the Salado River, which is flowed by the Ypacaraí Lake, the streams Yuquyry and Ñanduá drain into the Ypoá wetlands. The lakes Ypacaraí, Ypoá and the lagoon Cabral are situated in region of the country. The spurs of the Ybytypanema, part of the los Altos chain is in this department and its highest hills are Lambaré, Ñanduá and Arrua-í. Other lower hills in the zone are the Ñemby and the Patiño, the Central Department, known as “Comarca Asuncena”, was the most populated country region in old times. The towns which compound this department nowadays had different origin, one of the main protagonists of these foundations was Domingo Martínez de Irala, who gave rise to the districts of Itá and Areguá. The town of Luque was established as a Spanish village, Villeta and Tapuá, nowadays called Mariano Roque Alonso were founded in order to establish military forts for defence. That was how were established villages like Guarambaré, Ypané and Ñemby, in 1985, it was already established the last district in the Central department named Juan Augusto Saldívar, being constituted definitely the political division of the department. This department is favored by having a lot of routes, most of the routes of the country leave from Asunción, the Capital city, to the country towns. One of the roads in the so-called Ruta I, “Mariscal Francisco Solano López”
6.
Cordillera Department
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Cordillera is a department in Paraguay. The capital is the city of Caacupé, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries this area of the country was going through a serious crisis due to population bellicosity of the Indians from Chaco. The villagers from Tobatí located north of the river Pirapo then called, had to migrate south for the attacks by Mbaye-guaicurúes. The residents of Altos and Atyrá created their current settlements in the territory of this department, there were also some settler farmers who were scattered in existing territories Arroyos y Esteros,1 de Marzo, Caraguatay and Piribebuy. Towards the end of the century these small towns were expanding, consolidating the villages located north of the department as Arroyos y Esteros Eusebio Ayala. Once the Paraguayan War, began a process of founding of major towns, thus was created the department of Caraguatay, initial name of the department of Cordillera. In the year 1945, by a decree Law No,9484, the department received its present name, Cordillera. Finally in 1973, by Law No.426 took place in a new reorganization and country, at which consolidates the structure of the department with its current boundaries. Cordillera Region is located between parallels 24° 50′ and 25° 35′ south latitude and the meridian 56° 30′ and 57° 27′ west, the department is divided in 20 districts, Its capital is the city of Caacupé. The capital was founded on April 4,1770 by Carlos Murphy and its area is 150 km² with a population of 35,324 inhabitants.5 million faithful,7 and December 8. It is in the top of the Cordillera de Los Altos and this department is divided into two distinct areas by presenting physical appearance. An area located to the northeast, where the terrain is presented rather flat with many estuaries suitable for the farm, the other, extended along the Cordillera de Los Altos, with flat surfaces and corrugated satisfactory for agriculture. The districts of Paraguarí, Altos and Emboscada are crisscrossed by the Cordillera de Los Altos and this ridge also crosses the districts of Piribebuy and Eusebio Ayala. Its elevations are the most attractive hills Caacupé and Tobatí, the Paraguay River runs 33 km of this department. Many areas water tributaries, such as Manduvirá River which crosses the peoples of Piribebuy, the main tributary of the river Manduvirá is Tobatiry, called in its nascent, Yhaguy River. Other major rivers are the Piribebuy, which is born in Pirayú and empties into the Paraguay River and these waters flowing through a rich vegetation and is forming along the way as the beautiful jumps of Piribebuy, Piraretá, Chololó and others. In this department is the emblematic Lake Ypacaraí which is formed by the waters of streams that flow into it. It is approximately 22 miles long, between 5 and 6 km wide,300 meters deep and 90 km surface, the average annual temperature is 22 °C
7.
FIFA eligibility rules
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In the 20th century, FIFA allowed a player to represent any national team, as long as the player held citizenship of that country. FIFA has used its authority to overturn results of competitive matches that feature ineligible players. FIFAs eligibility rules also demand that in mens competitions, only men are eligible to play, historically, it was possible for players to play for different national teams. For example, Alfredo di Stefano played for Argentina and Spain, di Stefanos Real Madrid team-mate Ferenc Puskás also played for Spain after amassing 85 caps for Hungary earlier in his career. Other 20th century examples of players officially representing more than one country – excluding those resulting from changes to geopolitical borders e. g. e, fixtures not recognised by FIFA as full internationals. These caps are not officially recognised due to a dispute between FIFA and the Colombian Football Federation at the time, the first player to do so was Antar Yahia, who played for the France under-18s before representing Algeria in qualifiers for the 2004 Olympic Games. In March 2004, FIFA amended its policy on international eligibility. An emergency FIFA committee ruling judged that players must be able to demonstrate a connection to a country that they had not been born in. Defender Nikola Vujadinović, for example, would be eligible to play for the teams of Serbia or Montenegro. In June 2009, FIFA Congress passed a motion that removed the age limit for players who had played for a countrys national team at youth level to change national associations. This ruling features in Article 18 of the Regulations Governing the Application of the FIFA Statutes, thiago Motta has three caps for Brazil in matches deemed friendlies for Brazil and now represents Italy. Mehdi Carcela-González was born and raised in Belgium, and won two caps for Belgium in official friendly matches before switching to his nation of Morocco in 2011. Diego Costa represented Brazil in 2 friendlies before switching his allegiances to Spain in 2013, apostolos Giannou represented Greece in a friendly in 2015, before switching his allegiances to Australia, making his debut for the latter in March 2016. A FIFA Players Status Committee is responsible for making such judgements, FIFA takes punitive action against teams that field ineligible players. In August 2011, FIFA expelled Syria from the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification process following the appearance of George Mourad in a qualification match against Tajikistan. Mourad had made friendly match appearances for Sweden earlier in his career, after the game, a protest was lodged by their opponents Vanuatu, on the basis that Wynne was not an eligible player. As Wynne was 20 years old, it was impossible for him to have lived in New Zealand for five years after the age of 18. This protest was upheld by the Oceania Football Confederation, resulting in New Zealand being disqualified, there are 25 FIFA member associations that share a common nationality with at least one other FIFA member association
8.
Goalkeeper (association football)
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Goalkeeper, often shortened to keeper or goalie, is one of the major positions of association football. It is the most specialised position in the sport, the goalkeepers primary role is to prevent the opposing team from successfully moving the ball over the defended goal-line. This is accomplished by the moving into the path of the ball. Within the penalty area goalkeepers are able to use their hands, goalkeepers usually perform goal kicks, and also give commands to their defence during corner kicks, direct and indirect free kicks, and marking. Goalkeepers play an important role in directing on field strategy as they have a view of the entire pitch. If an attacker on the opposing team obstructs the keeper from catching or saving the ball, for example, in a corner, it will normally be a free kick. If a goalkeeper is injured or sent off, a goalkeeper has to take their place. In order to replace a goalkeeper who is sent off, a team usually substitutes an outfield player for the backup keeper and they then play the remainder of the match with nine outfield players. Goalkeepers often have longer playing careers than players, many not retiring until their late thirties or early forties. This can be explained by noting that goalkeepers play a physically demanding position that requires significantly less running. For example, Peter Shilton played for 31 years between 1966 and 1997 before retiring at the age of 47. Because only one player can play in goal and the position is so specialised many professional teams on average especially at the highest level have one player as first-choice for many years, for example Gianlugi Buffon has played as first choice keeper for Juventus for more than 15 years. Petr Cech prior to his move to Aresnal was first choice keeper for Chelsea between 2004 and 2015, the squad number for a first choice goalkeeper is generally number 1. Although this is common, some goalkeepers now wear other numbers when in goal, association football, like many sports, has experienced many changes in tactics resulting in the generation and elimination of different positions. Goalkeeper is the position that is certain to have existed since the codification of the sport. The earliest account of football teams with player positions comes from Richard Mulcaster in 1581, the earliest specific reference to keeping goal comes from Cornish Hurling in 1602. One of these is appointed by lots, to the one side, there is assigned for their guard, a couple of their best stopping Hurlers. Other references to scoring goals begin in English literature in the early 16th century, for example, in John Days play The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, Ill play a gole at camp-ball
9.
Midfielder
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A midfielder is an association football position. Midfielders are generally positioned on the field between their teams defenders and forwards, some midfielders play a disciplined defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are otherwise known as defensive midfielders. Others blur the boundaries, being mobile and efficient in passing, they are commonly referred to as deep-lying midfielders, play-makers, box-to-box. The number of midfielders on a team and their assigned roles depends on the teams formation, most managers assign at least one midfielder to disrupt the opposing teams attacks, while others may be tasked with creating goals, or have equal responsibilities between attack and defence. Midfielders are the players who typically travel the greatest distance during a match, central or centre midfielders are players whose role is divided roughly equally between attack and defence. When the opposing team has the ball, a midfielder may drop back to protect the goal or move forward. The 4–3–3 and 4–5–1 formations each use three central midfielders, the 4−4−2 formation may use two central midfielders, and in the 4–2–3–1 formation one of the two deeper midfielders may be a central midfielder. The term box-to-box midfielder refers to central midfielders who have abilities and are skilled at both defending and attacking. These players can track back to their own box to make tackles and block shots. A good box-to-box midfielder needs good passing, vision, control, stamina, tackling and marking in defence, left and right midfielders have a role balanced between attack and defence, similar to that of central midfielders, but they are positioned closer to the touchlines of the pitch. They may be asked to cross the ball into the penalty area to make scoring chances for their teammates. Common modern formations that include left and right midfielders are the 4−4−2, the 4−4−1−1, the 4–2–3–1, a notable example of a right midfielder is David Beckham. Defensive midfielders are players who focus on protecting their teams goal. These players may defend a zone in front of their teams defence, defensive midfielders may also move to the full-back or centre-back positions if those players move forward to join in an attack. Sergio Busquets described his attitude, The coach knows that I am an obedient player who likes to help out and if I have to run to the wing to cover someones position, great. A good defensive midfielder needs good positional awareness, anticipation of play, marking, tackling, interceptions, passing and great stamina. A holding or deep-lying midfielder stays close to their teams defence, a player in this role will try to protect their goal by disrupting the opponents attacking moves and stopping long shots on the goal. The holding midfielder may also have responsibilities when their team has the ball and this player will make mostly short and simple passes to more attacking members of their team but may try some more difficult passes depending on the teams strategy
10.
Away colours
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Away colours are a choice of coloured clothing used in team sports. They are required to be worn by one team during a game between teams that would wear the same colours as each other, or similar colours. This change prevents confusion for officials, players, and spectators, in most sports it is the visiting team that must change – second-choice kits are commonly known as away kits or change kits in British English, and road uniforms in American English. Some sports leagues mandate that teams must always wear an alternative kit. In some sports, conventionally the home team has changed its kit, in most cases, a team wears its away kit only when its primary kit would clash with the colours of the home team. However, sometimes teams wear away colours by choice, occasionally even in a home game, at some clubs, the away kit has become more popular than the home version. Replica home and away kits are available for fans to buy. Some teams also have produced third-choice kits, or even old-fashioned throwback uniforms, in American sports, road teams usually wear a change uniform regardless of a potential colour clash. Further, almost all road uniforms are white in American football, in the National Basketball Association, home uniforms are white or yellow, and visiting teams wear a darker colour. In the United States, color vs. color games are a rarity, most teams choose to wear their color jerseys at home, with the road team changing to white in most cases. White road uniforms gained prominence with the rise of television in the 1950s, a white vs. color game was easier to follow in black-and-white. According to Phil Hecken, until the mid 1950′s, not only was color versus color common in the NFL, even long after the advent of color television, the use of white jerseys has remained in almost every game. The NFLs current rules require that a home jerseys must be either white or official team color throughout the season. If a team insists on wearing its home uniforms on the road, the road team might instead wear a third jersey, such as the Seattle Seahawks Wolf Grey alternate. According to the Gridiron Uniform Database, the Cleveland Browns wore white for home game of the 1955 season. The only times they wore brown was for games at Philadelphia and the New York Giants, in 1964 the Baltimore Colts, Browns, Vikings and Rams wore white regularly for their home games according to Tim Brulias research. The St. Louis Cardinals wore white for several of their home games, until 1964 Dallas had worn blue at home, but it was not an official rule that teams should wear their colored jerseys at home. The use of white jerseys was instigated by general manager Tex Schramm, the Cowboys still wear white at home today
11.
Defender (association football)
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In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposing team from scoring goals. There are four types of defenders, centre-back, sweeper, full-back, the centre-back and full-back positions are essential in most modern formations. The sweeper and wing-back roles are more specialised for certain formations, a centre-back defends in the area directly in front of the goal, and tries to prevent opposing players, particularly centre-forwards, from scoring. Centre-backs accomplish this by blocking shots, tackling, intercepting passes, contesting headers, with the ball, centre-backs are generally expected to make long and pinpoint passes to their teammates, or to kick unaimed long balls down the field. For example, a clearance is a long unaimed kick intended to move the ball as far as possible from the defenders goal, during normal play, centre-backs are unlikely to score goals. In this case, other defenders or midfielders will temporarily move into the centre-back positions, in the modern game, most teams employ two or three centre-backs in front of the goalkeeper. The 4–2–3–1, 4–3–3, and 4–4–2 formations all use two centre-backs, the sweeper is a more versatile centre-back who sweeps up the ball if an opponent manages to breach the defensive line. This position is more fluid than that of other defenders who man-mark their designated opponents. Because of this, it is referred to as libero. For example, the system of play, used in Italian football in the 1960s. The more modern libero possesses the qualities of the typical libero while being able to expose the opposition during counterattacks. The Fundell-libero has become popular in recent time with the sweeper transitioning to the most advanced forward in an attack. This variation on the position requires great pace and fitness, while rarely seen in professional football, the position has been extensively used in lower leagues. Modern libero sit behind centre-backs as a sweeper before charging through the team to join in the attack, some sweepers move forward and distribute the ball up-field, while others intercept passes and get the ball off the opposition without needing to hurl themselves into tackles. If the sweeper does move up the field to distribute the ball, they will need to make a speedy recovery, in modern football, its usage has been fairly restricted, with few clubs in the biggest leagues using the position. Though it is used in modern football, it remains a highly respected. A recent and successful use of the sweeper was made by Otto Rehhagel, Greeces manager, Rehhagel utilized Traianos Dellas as Greeces sweeper to great success, as Greece surprisingly became European champions. The full-backs take up the wide positions and traditionally stayed in defence at all times
Luis Yegros
