Roberto Miguel Acuña Cabello (; born 25 March 1972) is a Paraguayan former footballer. Nicknamed "''El Toro"'' (The Bull) due to his strength and dominating presence, he operated mainly as a central midfielder. He spent several years as a professional in Spain at Zaragoza and Deportivo, appearing rarely for the latter club. Acuña played 100 times for

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, representing the nation in three World Cups and four Copa América tournaments.

Club career

Acuña was born in Avellaneda,

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Argentina, emigrating to Paraguay (his father's origin country) at a young age and starting playing for Club Nacional in 1989. After five years, he decided to acquire the country's citizenship to play for the national team, eventually becoming the second most capped player in Paraguay's history, second only to Carlos Gamarra. Afterwards, Acuña played four seasons back in Argentina, with Argentinos Juniors, and Boca Juniors, before moving to Europe in 1997 where he signed with Spain's Real Zaragoza. With the Aragonese he was an ever present midfield fixture, helping the side to the 2001 conquest of the Copa del Rey. In 2001, he won the Paraguayan Footballer of the Year award.El historial del galardón (Award's history)
ABC Color, 29 December 2008 (in Spanish) Consequently, Acuña attracted attention from Deportivo de La Coruña, which bought the player for five years and €11 million even though he was still due a five-match suspension from the previous season, where Zaragoza was relegated. With the Galicians, however, he never appeared more than seven times in the league during his spell, also struggling with injuries and being often loaned. Acuña first retired in 2007, finishing his career in Paraguay with Olimpia Asunción. However, in 2009, he came out of inactivity, signing with lowly Club Rubio Ñu; in 2012, the 40-year-old joined Club 12 de Octubre. In 2015, aged 43, Acuña helped Deportivo Recoleta gain promotion to the Paraguayan Primera División B. In December of that year, he re-joined former club Rubio Ñu.

International career

Like central defender Gamarra, Acuña appeared in three FIFA World Cup – 1998, 2002 and 2006 – and collected 100 caps in total, scoring five goals. He played all the matches for the national team in all three editions, and was the first Paraguayan to be sent off in a World Cup when he elbowed

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

's Michael Ballack in the last minute of the 0–1 round-of-16 loss on 15 June 2002 (for a second bookable offense). In the build-up to the 2006 World Cup, Acuña made headlines in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

after reportedly having asked a

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

employee to phone and try to arrange a date with a female photographer. He retired from international competition on 11 June 2011 at the age of 39, captaining Paraguay in a friendly with

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Acuña also represented the nation in the beach soccer variety.