The seventh 1/8 knockout match of the World Cup in South Africa will face Paraguay, a traditional powerhouse from South America, and Japan, the last lone seed of Asia in the World Cup.

After 90 minutes of fierce battle, the two sides were tied in regulation time, and after extra time, the two sides still did not achieve anything, and they could not use penalty shootouts to determine the winner.

The first penalty shoot-out of this World Cup began, and in the end, the more experienced Paraguayans had the last laugh and reached the quarterfinals of the World Cup for the first time in history.

After the game, Martino, the Argentinian head coach of the Paraguayan team, could no longer contain his emotions and couldn't help but burst into tears.

In this game, because the strength of the two teams is almost the same, from the beginning of the game, both sides did not dare to rashly press the attack, the confrontation was mainly concentrated in the midfield, the two teams tried to control the ball, and there were not many threats on the field.

With the exception of Japan hitting the crossbar once in the first half and Paraguay having a couple of dangerous shots on goal, the game was always evenly balanced and a slightly dull tempo.

After the start of extra time, Paraguay was under siege and had many chances, but it was not able to turn into victory against Japan's solid backline.

In the second half of extra time, the Japanese team launched a desperate attack, and the Uruguayan defense was in turmoil, but with a solid defense, the two teams finally entered a penalty shootout.

In the penalty shootout, Paraguay played more consistently, while Japan's Yuichi Komano missed a penalty, and finally Paraguay defeated Japan 5-3 and advanced to the quarterfinals.

When Cardoso made the final decision and scored the penalty safely, the Paraguayan players burst into cheers and rushed onto the pitch, Martino could no longer contain his emotions, not only burst into tears, but even in an interview after the game, Martino said that he really couldn't believe that all this had happened.

"We played hard but we fought until the end, but luckily luck was on our side today, and now the whole world is focused on Paraguay, and getting to the quarter-finals is an important step for us, and I still can't believe that we are in the quarter-finals! It's the first time in Paraguay's history that they've reached the quarter-finals, and if Japan wins, we're lucky in the penalty shoot-out, that's the difference between the two teams, when you see how the players play and what kind of unity and positivity they show, you know they're going to go down in history, maybe today's game, it's not the game that people want to see, but I don't think there's anything to blame for both teams, hopefully we can recover and continue to make history." ”

Paraguay's defensive prowess is among the best among World Cup teams, and the solidity of Paraguay's defence is becoming more and more important as international football styles continue to evolve.

Since Martino's arrival, the national team has been asked to pursue defensive tactics, which makes Paraguay look unusual in South America, where attacking football is widely celebrated.

Today, Paraguay have a solid defence under the tutelage of coach Martino, and in the entire World Cup qualifiers, Paraguay have conceded just 16 goals, just one more than Brazil.

With this defensive prowess alone, Paraguay has surpassed Uruguay and has become the third-most World Cup player in South America after Brazil and Argentina in eight World Cup appearances.

In the group stage of this World Cup, Paraguay drew with defending champions Italy in their first game, and Martino also believes that this game has built the confidence of the whole team.

In the second game, Paraguay lined up with three strikers and defeated Slovakia 2-0, which also gave people a glimpse of the attacking power of the South American powerhouse.

In the final round, Paraguay drew with New Zealand and are unbeaten in the group stage, conceding only one goal.

In the 1/8 finals, Paraguay's defense was still impregnable, and although the Japanese team tried their best in the second half of extra time, they could not break through Paraguay's door whether it was a sports battle or a set piece.

The Netherlands is called conservative when it plays steadily, Brazil is called utilitarian when it plays efficiently, and Chile is called barbaric if it plays fiercely.

Has the Paraguayan team seen it?

Paraguay's game can make even their own fans fall asleep, they can also make the opposing fans fall asleep, and more importantly, they can also make the players who are playing like they are falling asleep.

The Paraguayans have been trained to be a hard-nosed reality, hiding in their own half, denying their opponents thousands of miles away, and of course, isolating themselves from the opponent's goal, and surprisingly, they are actually neighbors of Argentina and Brazil.

Can you imagine the World Cup slogan painted on the Paraguayan team's bus: Guarani Lions roar in South Africa!

The male lion pretends to be a turtle with a shrunken head, and the antelope dares to come to be a security guard.

What is the use of slogans?

In fact, Paraguay's buses are not meant to swear an oath, they must have thought that if they could, they would actually park the buses in front of their own balls.

Then the opponent will never be able to score, but Paraguay will never want to score either, they are more like passengers sitting on a bus, from the first minute of the game to the last minute of the game, they were praying for a penalty with their hands folded, and this time they got it.

A team that takes dragging the game into a penalty shootout has appeared in history, that is Argentina in 1990, but that Argentina still has a pass and a shot from Maradona and Caniggia, and this "second in history", everyone has seen it, the second half of extra time kickoff, Valdés passed the ball directly back to the goalkeeper.

The only one who supports the façade of this team is the bold girl who stuffed her mobile phone into her corset, to be honest, the brothers who wore the sheets were really sorry for her arrogance.

However, Martino said: "The Italian defense is a good example for us to learn from and is our goal. ”

Interestingly, the "Master" Italian team was out of the tournament after the group stage, while Paraguay's youth was better than the blue, and continued to write wonderful in the World Cup.

Defensively, the Paraguayan team can be said to be at the peak, but in terms of attack, the performance of this Paraguayan team in the World Cup in South Africa is difficult to be satisfactory.

Currently, Paraguay has four forwards in front of Santa Cruz, Barrios, Valdés and Cardoso. In last season's league game, Cardoso scored 26 goals to win the Portuguese Super League Golden Boot, Barrios scored 19 goals in the Bundesliga, and the other two veteran players Santa Cruz and Valdés combined to contribute eight goals in World Cup qualifying, accounting for a third of Paraguay's total goals.

With such a luxurious combination of forwards, I believe that every team will be afraid of three points, but after four games in this World Cup, the report card handed over by these four strikers is 110 goals.

Although the Paraguayans were lucky enough to reach the quarter-finals via penalty shoot-outs, their best result at the World Cup, Paraguay's forward group will have to perform if they are to take it a step further, and this is something that manager Martino needs to address urgently.

Paraguay will continue their World Cup campaign in South Africa, while Japan, the only seed in Asian football, can only say goodbye after this match.

In this game, the strength of the Japanese team can be said to be equal to Paraguay, but the Japanese coach Takeshi Okada's tactics seem too conservative, and he believes that goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima can become a hero in the penalty shootout, such a bet is too big.

In a 11-man vs. 11-man contest, if you only put the hope of winning on one person, it will inevitably be a bit of a desperate and unreliable, and the Japanese are the victims of this unreliable gambling.

Takeshi Okada was determined to keep Japan on the counter-attacking side at the World Cup, and the Japanese did show excellent overall defensive ability.

It is true that this tactic is pragmatic against those traditional giants, but in this game, Japan's opponent Paraguay is not much better than the Japanese team in terms of strength, and if Takeshi Okada can make some adjustments to the tactics and slightly strengthen the control of the midfield, maybe the Japanese team can have a better chance.

Japan finally fell in the quarterfinals and failed to move forward, which is indeed a pity for Asian football, but judging from their performance in this World Cup, they have made a lot of progress at the technical and tactical level and at the psychological level, and they can already wrestle with the first-class teams in Europe and the United States.

However, after the game, Takeshi Okada could not hide his disappointment and wanted to walk back to the locker room immediately, but the on-site staff stopped him and politely accepted the official TV interview.

He then appeared at the press conference: "We don't regret it, the players were perfect, they were fantastic, they won honours for Japan and the whole of Asia, I'm proud of them, but it's my responsibility not to win." ”

At the pre-match press conference, Takeshi Okada said that he would do his best to win the game, but they still regretted losing in the end, as for the reason for the loss, Takeshi Okada said that it was difficult to say: "This is football, we have a chance, but I didn't prepare better, as a coach I should prepare more carefully and pay attention to more problems, and now that our World Cup is over, I feel sad like my players." ”

However, despite the loss, Takeshi Okada was able to leave South Africa with his head on his back, and since taking office, he has been questioned by the media, and even before coming to the World Cup, he was questioned and criticized, but he proved himself in only one World Cup.

Paraguay were able to move on with a sturdy, and of course ugly defence, but what next?

Obviously, neither Spain nor Portugal are easy to deal with!