On the final day of the round of 16, one teams found their World Cup dream over in the cruelest of ways, and another crashed out of the Cup after a lackluster performance.
In the first game of the day, Paraguay took on Japan.
Most assumed that Paraguay, the pre-match, favorites, would put the Japanese away easily in 90 minutes.
But a tough Japanese team stuck in there and kept Paraguay scoreless for the second game in a row (New Zealand had shut out Paraguay in the final game of the group stage). Japan had chances on goal too, but the Paraguayan goalie Justo Villar came up big on plenty of occations.
In the end, after 120 minutes of scoreless play, the 22 tired players got ready for the first penalty shootout of the 2010 World Cup.
Paraguay won the coin flip and chose to shoot first, and made their first three shots. Japan had made their first two, but on their third, Yuichi Komano came agonizingly close to scoring when he hit the crossbar, and the ball richoched back towards Komano.
Paraguay then scored the next two goals, including a calm, cool, and collected Oscar Cardozo scoring the game winning penalty shot and sending Paraguay into the quarter-finals.
In the second game of the day, Spain took on Portugal.
In the battle of Iberian neighbors, a highly anticipated match failed to live up to expectations.
Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo had a lackluster game, and the Spanish played like always, controlling the midfield and constantly retaining posession.
But the Spanish had their own troubles, and it took a moment of brilliance from striker David Villa in the 63rd minute to finally give Spain the 1-0 lead.
Credit must be given to Portugal keeper Eduardo, who kept the team in the game, and if a lesser goalie were in net it might have been two or three to nothing for the Spainards.
In the end, Spain held on for the 1-0 win, and advance to the quarter-finals. A win for them in the quarters would send them the farthest in the World Cup in their history.
Paraguay will take on Spain on July 3 at the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, at 2:30PM ET.
