FIFA World Cup 2010 – Paraguay vs. Japan – Blue samurais and the South Americans go head to head for World Cup Glory
Since the South American teams have been impressive throughout the tournament, they cannot be counted out of this World Cup just yet. The Paraguayans topped their group with five points, although their group had the World Cup favourites, Italy. On the other hand, Japan is the only Asian team left in this tournament. Korea was the other team and they suffered a loss in the pre-quarter finals at the hands of the other South American team Uruguay.
The Paraguayans started their World Cup by facing a tough side and the defending champions, Italy. The match ended in a draw but the South Americans were the ones to take the lead. During the first half, Alcaraz scored before the 40th minute to lead by a goal. The Paraguayans were leading by that single goal till half time and then in the second half, De Rossi equalized in the 63rd minute to end the match in a draw.
The second opponents the Paraguayans faced were the Slovakians. The Paraguayans grabbed an easy win over the Slovakians by a two goal margin. The South Americans were leading their opponents in the first half by a single goal while towards the end of the match, in the 86th minute, the second goal was scored to seal the deal. Then they faced the least favourites of the group, the New Zealanders. During the last match of the group stages, the New Zealanders defended really well and the match ended in a draw, thus, the Paraguayans topped their group and qualified for the next round to face the Blue Samurais.
The Japanese, on the other hand, had a difficult group, considering the fact that the spot for the runner-up team of the group was open between three countries, as the Dutch were the favourites and proved their worth. Sadly, for the Cameroon fans, they did not perform well and were the first ones to be knocked out of the World Cup. The Japanese first took on the least impressive side, Cameroon. The Blue Samurais, lately criticized over their new defensive style of play, looked to be organized at the back. They defended really well and denied Cameroon time and time again. Then, in the first half, just before the 40th minute, Honda scored the first goal for his country and put the Japanese ahead by a single goal. The Japanese kept on defending well and played great counter attacking football and did not let the Cameroonians score a goal. When the final whistle was blown, the Japanese were leading by a goal and they secured their first ever FIFA World Cup win on foreign soil.
Their second match was against Netherlands, who were the favourites for this group and secured a win against the Japanese by a single goal to confirm their spot in the next round and leaving the Japanese to win their last match. In their last match, they had to play Denmark for their spot in the next round. If they lost the match, they would be out of the World Cup. A draw, however, would have worked for them, as they were better than the Danish in goal difference. In the last match, the Japanese played at their best. They did not let the Danish players topple their defence and kept on attacking to score a goal. They scored two goals in the first half and the third in the second half to make sure they have qualified for the next round. Two of the goals came from fabulous free kicks scored by their star Honda and the other was taken by Endo. After the 80th minute the Danish scored a goal by winning a penalty, blocked by the Japanese goal keeper but then the deflected shot was struck inside the goal by Tomasson. Later in the game, the Japanese scored their 3rd goal to qualify for the round of 16, ending up as runner-ups of their group.
Now, the Asians have been paired up with the South American team Paraguay in the pre-quarter finals. The Japanese, although, are not the favourites for this World Cup but by the way they are playing, they can surely secure a spot in the quarter finals. The match would be very exciting as both the teams are evenly matched but we can never underestimate the might of the South Americans who have continued to impress from time to time. Who will qualify for the next round? We can only wait for the match to end.
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