By Erwin Wong/Red Sports
South Africa, Tuesday, June 29, 2010 — Paraguay advanced to the quarter-finals of the World Cup after ousting Japan 5-3 on penalty kicks in a Round of 16 tie. The match had ended in a drab 0-0 draw after 120 minutes.
Paraguay were the first to take the spot kicks and never trailed. The first five attempts from both teams found the net before Japan’s right-back Yuichi Komano cannoned his shot off the bar.
Nelson Valdez and Oscar Cardozo then kept their cool and sent Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima the wrong way with Paraguay’s fourth and fifth attempts to clinch the tie, and put the lid on quite an awful game of football.
Both teams were hardly adventurous in attack and chances at goal were at a premium. It was as if they had the penalty shootout in mind from the opening whistle.
Paraguay’s Lucas Barrios had the first real chance of the game after 20 minutes when his neat turn in the box set him up for a shot at goal, which was duly stopped by Kawashima’s legs.
Two minutes later, Daisuke Matsui’s long-range curler slammed against the crossbar — right about where Komano was to miss his spot-kick later on — with Paraguay keeper Justo Villar beaten.
There was little goalmouth action after that, with a couple of chances falling to Roque Santa Cruz and Edgar Barreto. At the other end, Keisuke Honda’s 99th minute free kick flashed across the Paraguay box with substitute Kengo Nakamura strangely failing to touch it goalwards.
The penalty shootout was a welcome relief to the lacklustre performance of both teams, and although Paraguay came out of this one unscathed, their lack of ambition and bite in front of goal would hardly alarm Spain or Portugal, either one being their next opponents in the quarter-finals.
Penalty shootout:
Paraguay:
Edgar Barreto (score)
Lucas Barrios (score)
Cristian Riveros (score)
Nelson Valdez (score)
Oscar Cardozo (score)
Japan:
Yasuhito Endo (score)
Makoto Hasebe (score)
Yuichi Komano (miss)
Keisuke Honda (score)
More News and Reactions
Video highlights of the match
Game photos
Guardian Online: Paraguay make Japan pay the penalty for negativity
2010 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 Fixtures
| SGP DATE/DAY | SGP TIME | COUNTRY A | COUNTRY B | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 26, Sat | 10pm | Uruguay  | 2 | South Korea  | 1 |
| Jun 27, Sun | 2.30am | USA  | 1 | Ghana  | 2 |
| Jun 27, Sun | 10pm | Germany  | 4 | England  | 1 |
| Jun 28, Mon | 2.30am | Argentina  | 3 | Mexico  | 1 |
| Jun 28, Mon | 10pm | Holland  | 2 | Slovakia  | 1 |
| Jun 29, Tue | 2.30am | Brazil  | 3 | Chile  | 0 |
| Jun 29, Tue | 10pm | Paraguay  | 0 (5) | Japan  | 0 (3) |
| Jun 30, Wed | 2.30am | Spain  | 1 | Portugal  | 0 |
For the World Cup fixtures list with Singapore broadcast timings as well as group tables and the list of CCs with free screenings, go to: http://redsports.sg/2010-world-cup-fixtures-groups/
[…] was anyone awake by the time the Paraguay vs Japan game got to penalty […]
Given that both countries had played far better in the group stages, and were poised to make history by entering the quarterfinals for thee first time, I consider it a poor reflection on the conservative defence-based strategy most teams employ to great success rather than on any lack of attacking ability on either side.
Put simply, I think they were just nervous and tried to play it safe. They succeeded, at least.
Even Brazil, the original exponents of all-out attacking, you-score-three-we’ll-just-score-four football have “matured”. I don’t envy the Brazilian position in modern football, where everyone is becoming well-organised and aims first to be hard to break, because the legacy of the samba generation is now harder than ever to live up to.
And while I accept that play-acting is more and more prevalent, and some fouls are so well hidden that sometimes giving them more emphasis is a must, I don’t have to like it. Maybe this is the case for video referees that does make some sense.
Having seen Spain’s laboured win against Portugal and the unbelievable actions of Capdevila at the end of the match, I wonder if the next rounds will bring more adventure or even more edgy, conservative football. I’m not too worried for Paraguay given last night’s performances, though.