Joel Fernando Zayas (born 17 September 1977 in

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

) is a Paraguayan former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

goalkeeper. In June 2007, after great performances with his club Bolívar, he was selected for the

Paraguay national football team The Paraguay national football team (), nicknamed ''La Albirroja,'' represents Paraguay in men's international Association football, football competitions, and are controlled by the Paraguayan Football Association, Asociación Paraguaya de Fút ...

that participated in the

2007 Copa America 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has symbolic associations in religion, mythology, supers ...

. In the quarterfinals of the competition, Paraguay played against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. In the 2nd minute, goalkeeper Aldo Bobadilla was sent off after a bad challenge over

Nery Castillo Nery Alberto Castillo Confalonieri (born 13 June 1984) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a forward. Early years Nery Castillo was born in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, where his father, a Uruguayan professional footballer, ...

and after

Justo Villar Justo Wilmar Villar Viveros (born 30 June 1977) is a Paraguayan former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Other than in his own country, he also played in Argentina, Spain and Chile, in a senior career that lasted 22 years. A ...

had been injured earlier in the tournament, giving Zayas the chance to play in the rest of the match and his first cap. Paraguay ended playing the game with ten players, and they eventually lost 6–0, thus ending the Copa America campaign. After the Copa America tournament, Zayas was transferred to

Guaraní Guarani, Guaraní or Guarany may refer to Ethnography * Guaraní people, an indigenous people from South America's interior (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia) * Guarani language, or Paraguayan Guarani, an official language of Paraguay * G ...

. In 2009, he returned to Bolivia, only this time, he signed with

Club Jorge Wilstermann Club Cultural y Deportivo Jorge Wilstermann, known simply as Wilstermann, is a Bolivian association football, football club from the city of Cochabamba, founded on 24 November 1949 by a group of workers of Lloyd Aereo Boliviano. It is named after ...

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* 1977 births Paraguayan men's footballers Living people Men's association football goalkeepers Tacuary footballers Club Bolívar players Club Guaraní players C.D. Jorge Wilstermann players Club San José players Colegio Nacional Iquitos footballers Club Atlético 3 de Febrero players Paraguay men's international footballers Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Bolivia Paraguayan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Bolivia Expatriate men's footballers in Peru Footballers from Asunción {{Paraguay-footy-goalkeeper-stub