Toshack issues Paraguay warning to England

Wales boss John Toshack has warned England they must not take Paraguay lightly when the sides meet at this summer's World Cup.

Toshack's youngsters produced a creditable 0-0 draw on St David's Day at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium against the South Americans, who will be England's first group opponents at the Germany finals.

Toshack said: "The fact that Paraguay are England's first opponents in the finals could be significant.

"You never know what will happen in the first match of a tournament, and Paraguay could be a difficult game for England. They are technically very good and have players who can cause any team problems.

"There is no doubt Paraguay will be more than ready for the England game and although I think England have an excellent chance of doing well in the finals, they will have to be very aware of how dangerous Paraguay could be in that first match."

Toshack also praised debutant Lewin Nyatanga after he became his country's youngest ever full international.

The Derby starlet, at 17 years and 195 days, took the 'youngest ever' tag from Ryan Green, the former Wolves full-back now with Hereford.

Toshack said: "I was very pleased with him, he handled the occasion well and looked very comfortable out there.

"He is young but has a confident streak about him and he is not fazed by anything.

"We have to slowly introduce our youngsters, and that is one of the reasons that I decided on Paul Jones in goal rather than another youngster in Lewis Price.

"With Nyatanga in the defence we needed some extra experience around the place."

Paraguay boss Anibal Ruiz was reluctant to discuss his country's World Cup finals clash with England, but did say: "It was important that we did well in this match and learned about playing British-style sides.

"Wales' goalkeeper was outstanding, he made a lot of very good saves to stop us from winning.

"We need more games like this, the Wales match was the first of our World Cup build-up and we will be ready for out first match in Germany against England.

"But for now we will continue to build for the finals, and there is still plenty of time to get our team to the level we want."