Paraguay 0:0 Japan; Paraguay win 5-3 on pens: match report

There were extraordinary scenes at the end with the Paraguayans flooding the field, the Japanese slumped in despair. There were inevitable tears from Yuichi Komano – who had slammed his penalty against the bar, the only player to miss in the shoot-out – but also from the victorious coach, Gerardo Martino.

Amazingly, the Argentinian sat in the dug-out sobbing his heart out, his glasses askew, steamed up and in the arms of one of his back-room staff. It was relief and pride - surely - but there were a few people inside this stadium who had felt like crying during the previous two hours. Tears of tedium, that is.

Martino’s nickname is Tata but this was tatty. A rag-tag, shapeless match in which the only victor, before substitute Oscar Cardozo rolled in the winning penalty, calm as you like, had been nerves. Both teams were gripped by them and although there was an excuse – the stakes, the occasion – it was a blight.

With hindsight it should have gone straight to penalties and although the Japanese coach Takeshi Okada beat the ground in frustration at the final whistle his tactics appeared set to stifle.

Paraguay now move forwards into the quarter-finals, for the first time in their history, affirming once again the dominance of South American nations at this tournament, making up half of the last eight countries. It’s hard to see them going much further but they have a teak-tough defence and a desire to succeed. They won’t roll over.


The fear of losing was greater than the desire to win. There were few signs of Japan’s attacking verve which has lit up this World Cup.

They played deep and hoped which, given their goal threat and their energy, was desperately disappointing while Paraguay didn’t know whether to stick or twist. Chances were at a premium and the ones that came were squandered in haste.

The relentless Japanese midfielder Diasuke Matsui went closest. In the first-half, the ball broke to him from a tackle, and he struck a dipping, first-time shot that crashed off the crossbar from 25 yards.

Then he sped in from the right to tee up Keisuke Honda whose effort from just outside the area was sliced wide.

For Paraguay, the dancing feet of Lucas Barrios carved out an opening – a clever drag back taking him through only for his poked shot to be saved by Eiji Kawashima with his legs – while Roque Santa Cruz fired wide, under pressure from Honda. But it stopped there.

And that was it for the first 45 minutes. The second-half was even more cagey, even more incident-free although it was the South Americans who pushed, only for their ambition to ebb as the minutes ticked by.

A Cristian Riveros header, a Edgar Benitez shot which was blocked and, in extra-time, substitute Nelson Valdez forced his way through only for Kawashima to rush from goal and block bravely.

In fairness both defences are strong, all four central defenders commanding.

But it was thin fare and was summed up by two passages of play – Claudio Morel inexplicably over-hitting a simple free-kick, straight out of play, and then Keiji Tamada breaking away, on goal, only for him to clip his pass behind the onrushing Shinji Okazaki.

The penalties brought on the lottery but none of the supporters here felt they had a winning ticket as they left the stadium on Tuesday night.