Brighton's Diego Gómez has been named despite a pre-tournament injury scare. Jung Yeon-je/AFP via Getty ImagesJune 1, 2026 12:49 pm EDT Updated Paraguay have named their 26-man World Cup squad after a return to the tournament for the first time since 2010.Head coach Gustavo Alfaro will continue to lean on a core group of experienced players, 15 of whom play their club football in South America.Brighton & Hove Albion’s Diego Gómez has made the squad after a knee injury scare on April 18. Gomez landed awkwardly on his right knee in the first half of Brighton’s 2-2 draw against Tottenham. Earlier this month, Gómez admitted that he had feared the worst.“I thought the worst, but thankfully it was not a serious injury,” he told DSports on May 11. “Now I’m recovering and thinking about being 100 percent fit for the World Cup. When the injury occurred, my first thought was the World Cup. I thought that I was going to miss the World Cup.”Gomez, 23, is one of Paraguay’s standout players and a key part of Alfaro’s midfield setup. He will be joined by two former Premier League attackers in 32-year-old ex-Newcastle United winger Miguel Almirón (now with Atlanta United) and Julio Enciso, 22, who signed with Brighton as a teenager before landing with RC Strasbourg last year.