Can Miguel Almiron make Paraguayan football relevant again?

As a nation, Paraguay is easy to overlook. Sandwiched between Brazil and Argentina, this country of 7 million people has a hard time attracting tourists. They'd rather go to Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires or whichever other South American destination they can find in a travel brochure. Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, rarely makes those pages.

Nearly a quarter of Paraguay's people live in poverty, which is better than it was before, but problems persist. The border separating the country from its larger neighbors is ruled by smugglers, and aspects of the dictatorship that fell decades ago have crept back into its politics.

But the people are strong. They have a "serene charm" about them, according to BBC correspondent Tim Vickery, but also a "warrior spirit" within them.

That inner combativeness informs their interpretation of football. Paraguay has a strong connection to the game, even with the little resources it has available, and it's one of the few areas it can reasonably expect to make international headlines.

Miguel Almiron is helping the country achieve that. As one of Paraguay's most gifted players, the 25-year-old is trying to lead this often forgotten football nation back to competitiveness.

One of just four players on this Copa America squad to feature in Europe’s top five leagues last season, Almiron has the vision and technique to change people's minds about his country. Paraguay has always been regarded as defensively rigid and conservative, an approach that, while unpopular, worked well in past tournaments.

Relying on its prototypical resilience, Paraguay topped its group at the 2010 World Cup, beat Japan on penalties in the round of 16, and gave eventual champion Spain one of its toughest assignments. The following year, Paraguay reached the final of the Copa America without scoring a goal in the knockout round, beating Brazil and Venezuela on penalties before falling to Uruguay. It wasn't pretty, but it was effective.

Tata Martino, then leading Paraguay's national team, harnessed the fighting spirit his players had. He had an immense impact on Almiron, who idolized the coach after witnessing this remarkable run on the world stage.

But Martino always preferred a more attacking style. He couldn't get his Paraguay to play quite that way, not without conceding a fatal number of goals.

The 56-year-old may only now see those ambitions realized, long after his departure. An attacking midfielder who likes to track back and play defense-splitting passes, Almiron is exactly the kind of player who Martino had in mind when he was coaching Paraguay. No wonder he brought Almiron to Atlanta United, where they outgunned the opposition on their way to the 2018 MLS Cup.

The combination of guts and gravitas is what makes Almiron special - and so Paraguayan. He gets fouled a ton and returns the favor when he can. Beneath the bashful exterior and the sensitive smile is a tenacious player who doesn’t give up.

"Miguel has a commitment to the team," Martino told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last year. "I'm talking about his commitment to winning the ball back, pressing. He's a player that's always working.

"He's an atypical No. 10. Because he gives you everything that a No. 10 gives you and he probably dispossesses players like a defensive midfielder."

And that’s exactly what Paraguay needs right now.

After making four consecutive World Cups between 1998 and 2010, La Albirroja failed to make the cut in 2014 and 2018. In the intervening years, Asuncion was ground zero for a sweeping corruption scandal that implicated several CONEMBOL officials, including former president and Paraguayan native Juan Angel Napout, who was sentenced to nine years in prison on racketeering and fraud charges.

The national team has suffered just as much from instability, having appointed eight different coaches since Martino left his post in 2011. None stayed longer than two years. Now, another Argentine, Eduardo Berizzo, is at the helm, but his checkered managerial history suggests he may not be the man to lead Paraguay forward.

Luckily, help may be on the way. Paraguay looks to have a generation of youngsters coming through. Players born after 1999 are getting increasing amounts of playing time in the country's top flight, and they're responding. Fourteen-year-old Cerro Porteno forward Fernando Ovelar scored his first professional goal in a fixture against local behemoths Olimpia last November, the youngest player ever to do so in the Paraguayan Primera Division.

There's also encouragement at the youth level. Paraguay reached the semifinals at the 2015, 2017, and 2019 South American Under-17 Championships, where scouts begin to earmark the next wave of talent. Midfielder Fernando Cardozo made his mark at that tournament, and at just 18 years old, he has fought his way into the starting lineup at Olimpia.

As these players develop, Almiron has to do his best to keep the national team competitive. It starts at this Copa America, where Paraguay already slumped to a 2-2 draw with invitee Qatar. Almiron was brilliant in that game, slicing through the midfield with his signature speed and figuring into his team's two goals. But it wasn't enough.

It will take a lot more to get Paraguay back to the heights it reached when Martino was in charge, and even more to surpass that. But at the very least, Almiron is getting people to take notice of his country again.