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World Cup 2010 Quarter Final (Saturday 3rd July 2010, K.O. 19:30 BST)
Venue: Ellis Park
Conditions: Dry and cloudy. Temp: 13c, Wind 2.6m/s

Spain: 1 (Villa 83)
Paraguay: 0

TEAMS
Spain: Casillas (C), Pique, Puyol (Marchena 84), Capdevila, Ramos, Sergio, Iniesta, Xavi, Alonso (Pedro 75), Torres (Fabregas 56), Villa.
Paraguay: Villar (C), Veron, Morel, Barreto (Vera 64), Santana, Da Silva, Caceres (Barrios 84), Riveros, Valdez (Santa Cruz 72), Alcaraz, Cardozo.

Referee: Carlos Batres (Guatemala)

Spain survived a penalty and missed two of their own in a dramatic second half against Paraguay and relied once again on in-form striker David Villa to pull them through. His fifth goal of the tournament and 43rd for Spain left him one behind Raul in the all time Spanish top scorers list and booked Spain a place in their first ever World Cup semi final, against Germany on Wednesday evening.

There wasn’t much action to report in the first 45 minutes. Paraguay defended impeccably as we know they can, and Spain had plenty of possession but wasted it time and time again with sloppy passing, especially from their set pieces. You have to admire Paraguay’s defensive capabilities, but it doesn’t make for a very watchable football match. In truth, Spain made it quite easy for them in the first half by passing but not probing. They rarely got into dangerous positions in wide areas and didn’t manage any incisive through balls. The closest they came to threatening Justo Villar’s goal was a solitary long range effort from Xavi that flew just over the bar. Paraguay actually had the best three chances, with two crosses just evading the oncoming forwards in the Spanish box and a disallowed goal for Nelson Haedo Valdez, who beat the offside trap to bring down a cross with his chest and coolly slot the ball home. However, his strike was chalked off because Cardozo had strayed into an offside position and made an attempt to play the ball. The Spanish team looked tired and disjointed, with Fernando Torres again anonymous whereas Paraguay, having made six changes to their starting line up, seemed comparatively fresh.

Fortunately the second half was a much more exciting and eventful affair. Spain came out determined to have a go at creating real goalscoring opportunities and began to push forwards with intent. Torres was only given a further ten minutes before he was replaced by Fabregas, but the first big opportunity of the half fell to the South Americans from a corner kick. In a moment of madness Gerard Pique pulled back Oscar Cardozo in the box and the Guatemalan referee awarded a penalty. Cardozo struck the penalty himself but Casillas pulled off a fine save and Paraguay were denied a retake despite several Spanish players having entered the area before the ball was kicked.

Within a minute of that save, Spain were awarded a penalty of their own at the other end of the field where David Villa had broken clear of the defence and was tripped from behind by Alcaraz, who was lucky to stay on the pitch. Xabi Alonso struck his penalty confidently into the top corner but this time the referee was looking for encroachment and he ruled that the kick should be retaken. At the second time of asking, Alonso decided to go low and Villar pulled off a fine save, with yet more encroachment this time going unpunished.

Spain enjoyed their best period of the game in the minutes following the three penalties with Ramos, Alonso and Iniesta having good chances and Villar producing a top class save to maintain the status quo. Vicente Del Bosque brough the lively Pedro on for Alonso in the 75th minute and his pace gave the Spanish attack added impetus. He had a major hand in creating the winning goal in the 83rd minute when, after excellent work by Iniesta, his low shot hit the post and rebounded to Villa who followed up with another shot onto the same post and along the goal line into the net off the opposite post.

Spain brought on Marchena for Puyol to close off the game and there was only one further scare for the European champions as Paraguayan substitute striker Lucas Barrios broke down the inside right channel and hit a bobbling shot which Casillas failed to hold. Fellow substitute Roque Santa Cruz was following up and should have scored but hit his shot directly at the Spanish ‘keeper. The final whistle brought tears for Paraguay and relief was the overriding emotion for a Spanish team that has yet to fire on all cylinders and will have to play much better against the Germans in the next round.

Greece go into the World Cup finals without a win to their name in 2010, having been beaten 2-0 by fellow World Cup hopefuls Paraguay in Winterthur, Switzerland. This result follows last week’s 2-2 draw with North Korea in Altach, Austria and an equally disappointing 2-0 home defeat to Senegal in March. That’s worrying form ahead of the finals and any remaining problems will have to be ironed out on the training ground. Their next match is for real – the Group B opener against South Korea in Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth on the 12th of June.

Paraguay, on the other hand, will be quietly satisfied with their preparations – especially this result – and can look forward to their next fixture, which isn’t for another twelve days. It’s the Group F crunch match against Italy in Cape Town on the 14th of June.

Manchester City striker Roque Santa Cruz was restored to the starting line up for this match and he managed the full 90 minutes to prove his fitness, which gives further encouragement to manager Gerardo Martino. Greece manager Otto Rehhagel will be wondering where his team’s trademark defensive impregnability has gone. They seem to be leaking goals all too easily of late.

The first tonight came in the 9th minute when midfielder Enrique Vera struck home a rebound and the second, from Lucas Barrios came in the 25th minute. It’s now three in three games for the naturalised Argentinian. With a two goal cushion, the South Americans were comfortable in sitting back and playing possession football whenever possible to close off the game.

Greece 0-2 Paraguay (02/06/2010)

Starting Line-ups:

Greece:
Tzorvas
Papadopoulos
Kyrgiakos
Torosidis
Seitaridis
Tziolis
Katsouranis
Ninis
Samaras
Kapetanos
Salpingidis

Substitutions:
45 Karagounis for Kyrgiakos
45 Vintra for Ninis
45 Charisteas for Salpingidis
59 Patsatzoglou for Katsouranis
75 Spyropoulos for Kapetanos

Paraguay:
Villar
Veron
Da Silva
Morel
Bonet
Caceres
Riveros
Torres
Vera
Santa Cruz
Barrios

Substitutions:
60 Barreto for Vera
60 Alcaraz for Bonet
64 Benitez for Barrios
66 Caniza for Morel
74 Santana for Veron
80 Ortigoza for Riveros

Goals:
Vera (9)
Barrios (25)

World Cup hopefuls Paraguay and the Ivory Coast shared four goals in their World Cup warm up friendly match in Thonon-Les-Bains on the banks of Lake Geneva in France. It was Swedish manager Sven Goran Eriksson’s first game in charge of the Elephants and he will have plenty of positives upon which to draw, albeit with one or two negatives in the final fifteen minutes as he watched his side squander a two-goal lead.

The match came alive in the second half, following a goalless first period. Chelsea’s Didier Drogba opened the scoring in the 54th minute when his deflected free-kick found the net and Hibernian defender doubled the advantage twenty minutes later with only his second international goal. However, this spurred the South Americans into action and they quickly fought back, reducing the deficit almost immediately through Borussia Dortmund’s Lucas Barrios, his second goal in as many international appearances.

Paraguay strove for an equaliser and it finally came courtesy of left-back Aureliano Torres, who popped up to score his first international goal in the final minute. The Paraguayans have now experienced a win (v North Korea), a defeat (v Ireland) and a draw in their build up to South Africa. They conclude their preparations with a game against Greece in Winterthur on the 2nd of June.

The Ivory Coast are only playing two warm up matches. The second is against Japan in Sion on the 4th of June and they then have eleven days of training ahead of their opening World Cup fixture against Portugal in Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth.

Paraguay 2-2 Ivory Coast (30/05/2010)

Starting Line-ups:

Paraguay:
Villar
J. Caceres
Barrios Da Silva
Torres
Veron
Martinez
Ledesma
Estigarribia
V. Caceres
Ortigoza
Achucarro

Substitutions:
54 Aquino for Ledesma
70 Riveros for Ortigoza
70 Santa Cruz for Martinez
70 Barrios for Achucarro
78 Bonet for Veron

Ivory Coast:
Barry
K. Toure
Tiene
Y. Toure
Zokora
Romaric
Tiote
Gosso
Drogba
Kalou
Dindane

Substitutions:
46 Gervinho for Kalou
46 Eboue for Gosso
46 Bamba for K. Toure

Goals:
Drogba (54)
Bamba (74)
Barrios (75)
Torres (90)