Paraguay have progressed to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time ever after defeating Japan on penalties after the match ended 0-0 after extra-time.
Round of 16Paraguay: 0 *(wins 5-3 on penalties) Japan: 0
Venue: Loftus Versfeld Stadium - Tshwane/Pretoria Crowd: 38,000 Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (BEL) Yellow cards:PAR - Cristian Riveros 118' JPN - Daisuke Matsui 58', Yuto Nagatomo 72', Keisuke Honda 90+3', Yasuhito Endo 113'
With a quarter-final place up for grabs, the evening began in a cagey fashion as both sides were trying to work each other out but the match kicked into gear when Paraguay and Japan both had great goalscoring chances around the 20-minute mark.
First off, Lucas Barrios' shot was only half dealt with by Japan keeper Eiji Kawashima and needed to be cleared by scrambling defenders before Daisuke Matsui tried his luck from long range down the other end only to be denied by the crossbar having beaten Justo Villar in Paraguay's goals.
Paraguay began giving the ball away in midfield as Japan looked menacing every time they went forward with the likes of Matsui, Yasuhito Endo and Keisuke Honda dangerous, particularly from dead ball situations, but the South Americans still pushed into their final third to produce chances of their own. The first 45 minutes did, however, finish scoreless as both sides went into the break with stakes at a premium.
The second term began much in the same way as the first with a sit-back-and-wait approach as both coaches were in pensive moods on the sidelines.
Japan were defending solidly as Paraguay started to push forward with regularity but the Blue Samurai were not to be outdone in an attacking sense as Shinji Okazaki came off the bench and started to create problems as both sides were in eager search of an opener.
It was desperation stakes in the final ten minutes with Japan making most of the play but the game required extra-time after it was 0-0 after 90 minutes.
Neither side produced nothing of note in the opening 15 minutes of extra-time, except perhaps for Honda's 99th minute free-kick which was parried away by Villar.
The second quarter hour was then under way and it seemed as though the game would be headed for penalties which was confirmed when referee Frank De Bleeckere blew his whistle to end a scoreless 120 minutes.
Penalty Shootout
PAR:Edgar Barreto SCORES - to his left, low and hard. 1-0 JPN: Yasuhito Endo SCORES - neatly to the right. 1-1 PAR: Lucas Barrios SCORES - squeezes it past Kawashima. 2-1 JPN: Makoto Hasebe SCORES - to the left. 2-2 PAR: Cristian Riveros SCORES - calmly sending Kawashima wrong way. 3-2 JPN: Yuichi Komano MISSES - hits the crossbar. 3-2 PAR: Nelson Valdez SCORES - powers it down the middle. 4-2 JPN:Keisuke Honda SCORES - coolly rolls it in. 4-3 PAR: Oscar Cardozo SCORES - sends Paraguay to the quarter-finals. 5-3
Starting Line-Ups
PAR Justo Villar (gk), Claudio Morel, Carlos Bonet, Roque Santa Cruz (Cardozo 94'), Edgar Benitez (Valdez 60'), Enrique Vera, Paulo da Silva, Cristian Riveros, Lucas Barrios, Nestor Ortigoza (Barreto 75'), Antolin Alcaraz
Subs - Nelson Valdez (60'), Edgar Barreto (75'), Oscar Cardozo (94')
JPNEiji Kawashima (gk), Yuki Abe (K.Nakamura 81'), Yuichi Komano, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Yuto Nagatomo, Yasuhito Endo, Daisuke Matsui (Okazaki 65'), Yoshito Okubo (Tamada 106'), Makoto Hasebe, Keisuke Honda, Yuji Nakazawa
Subs - Shinji Okazaki (65'), Kengo Nakamura (81'), Keiji Tamada (106')
