Santa Cruz is Paraguay's biggest star in Premiership

After eight up-and-down years at Bayern Munich, Roque Santa Cruz's English Premier League career is off to a rousing start. AP

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They are feared throughout South America for their fighting spirit, their teamwork and their aerial prowess. So it seems remarkable that, although the Paraguayan national team has made it to the last three World Cups, its players have been so slow to make an impact in the English Premier League.

Paraguayans would appear to have the virtues to fit in well to the notoriously rugged style of the English game. But until this season, there was only one not very encouraging story to tell.

At the turn of the decade, Newcastle United picked up midfielder Diego Gavilán from Cerro Porteño, Paraguay's most popular club. Perhaps it came too soon.

Perhaps is was too big of a step for a young man a long way from home, but Gavilán was hardly given a game. He has accumulated more than 40 appearances for his national team and carved out a solid career in South American club soccer.

But Gavilán the pioneer wasn't able to leave his mark on English soccer, heading back to Latin American just two years later (he's currently with Grêmio in Brazil, runner-up in this year's Copa Libertadores).

Now, though, one of his compatriots is making a huge impression in the world's richest league. Blackburn Rovers' acquisition of striker Roque Santa Cruz from Bayern Munich is being seen as the bargain of the offseason. The 6-foot-3 striker has scored goals, set them up, linked the play and already become a cult figure in the Lancashire town, some 35 miles outside Manchester.

Nine years ago when he burst onto the scene as a rangy, precociously talented teenager, Santa Cruz seemed destined for even bigger stages than that offered by a provincial club in England.

In 1998, at the age of 16, Santa Cruz scored a hat trick for his club Olimpia in a Copa Mercosur match against Vélez Sarsfield of Argentina -- with legendary Paraguayan José Luis Chilavert in goal. Scouts instantly started to take notice. It was a triumph that showcased his heading ability -- but he had so much more to offer.

Perhaps his most surprising asset was his devastating turn of pace. In the '99 South American Under-20 Championships, a Brazilian center back calmly tried to bring the ball out of defense in the first minute of the match. From nowhere, Santa Cruz swooped in to nip the ball off his toe and raced away to score.

He seemed to have the complete package -- height and pace, the capacity to strike the ball with power and subtlety off either foot and the intelligence to combine well with his strike partner. At the senior level, Paraguay had shown its customary resilience but was struggling for goals. So Roque Santa Cruz appeared like a gift from heaven.

He was sent straight in to senior international soccer, and in July 1999, when Paraguay staged its first ever Copa América, the 17-year-old was leading their attack like a veteran. "Babygol," he was nicknamed. Once the competition had ended (Paraguay, unbeaten, lost on penalties to Uruguay in the quarterfinals), Santa Cruz went off across the Atlantic to join Bayern Munich.

The German giants congratulated themselves on pulling off a coup. They truly believed they had signed a player who would shortly become one of the superstars of the global game.

Eight years later, Santa Cruz's start with Blackburn would indicate that his future is as bright as ever. Bayern, though, would argue that it saw all too little from Santa Cruz. It had been hoping that the Paraguayan would develop into the type of player who might even score 38 goals a season, rather than the eight years it took him to reach that total in German soccer.

The principal problem, of course, was injuries. The beanpole frame of Santa Cruz has broken down time and time again. Significantly, in all the interviews he has given to the English press, he has been stressing his hope to remain healthy for the entire season. Perhaps, though, that was not the entire story. Maybe he also got lost in the giant squad of one of Europe's leading clubs.

Soccer brings out the warrior side of the Paraguayans. Off the field, though, they can often be shy, tranquil individuals. It could just be that Santa Cruz reacts better to playing for a smaller, provincial club where he is made to feel important.

Santa Cruz, who just turned 26, should now be entering the peak years of his playing career. If Blackburn can keep him fit and handle him right, it should have plenty to celebrate -- and Paraguay should finally figure on the map -- as far as English soccer is concerned.