[Final Score: Paraguay 0 – Japan 0; Paraguay advances by winning PK shootout 5-3.
Paraguay advances to a quarterfinal matchup against the winner of Spain-Portugal (the last Round of 16 match, to be played later today at 2:30pm ET). Japan goes home, their hopes of representing Asia further in the tournament dashed.]
This is by far the most unexpected matchup of the Round of 16, with neither country having advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Cup before. Paraguay will be attempting to make the quarterfinals 50% South American (!), with Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil having already advanced over the past 3 days. On the other hand, Japan is trying to become the first Asian side to advance to the quarterfinals since South Korea in 2002.
We’ll again be sporadically liveblogging–we will post scoring plays, details about individual players, and observations about the general run of play. We’ll count on you to provide color via the comments!
We are about 15 minutes from kickoff! Starting lineups and a very welcoming and empty comment box after the jump!
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[liveblog]22[/liveblog]
Starting lineups:
Japan:
Paraguay:
14 comments
Suman
June 29, 2010 at 10:08 AM
from http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=1263181/index.html
Sean
June 29, 2010 at 10:53 AM
Been cagey so far. Hope to catch some of the second half!
Ina
June 29, 2010 at 11:45 AM
Go Japan! Looking like extended time?
Ina
June 29, 2010 at 11:54 AM
Why was that a yellow card? Another bad call… I like Honda’s hair! 🙂
Suman
June 29, 2010 at 12:01 PM
You’re right Ina, extra time! Lame yellow for Honda on that hand ball…
ryan
June 29, 2010 at 12:04 PM
this game has been SLOW… i’m actually hoping for penalities at this point … though some great action in the japan box .. paraguay applying some nice pressure finally
ryan
June 29, 2010 at 12:29 PM
penalty kicks! woo!
antu
June 29, 2010 at 12:33 PM
been catching the game in between appointments but watching for sure now with penalties
antu
June 29, 2010 at 12:34 PM
who deserves the win more?
ryan
June 29, 2010 at 12:36 PM
i’d like to see japan take this .. they played more creatively … paraguay just defends too much …
antu
June 29, 2010 at 12:40 PM
AAAAAGGGHHHH – cross bar!
cn-travel.orgNida
June 30, 2010 at 4:51 PM
I hope you have a good day! usawii.com
Evan Pinchbeck
July 4, 2010 at 8:20 PM
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Hindi sms
July 24, 2010 at 3:36 PM
Hey cool info mate..
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