DAY 19 REVIEW

The penultimate second round tie saw perhaps the most dull game of the tournament so far - but this still didn't warrant the arrogant commentating of Clive Tyldesley and Jim Beglin - after all, as England had already touched down in London, we could hardly talk! Both teams were clearly weighed down by the weight of history, as Paraguay and Japan were bidding to reach the last eight for the first time in their history, and both were more concerned with not losing than winning the game. In a game of few clear cut chances, there was one moment of real quality in the first half - Paraguay forward Lucas Barrios wriggled free of two Japanese defenders with a deft turn, but he saw his shot saved by the legs of keeper Eiji Kawashima. But the Asian team came closest to winning the match in normal time - the impressive Daisuke Matsui crashed a shot against Justo Villar's crossbar from outside the penalty area. Japan's star man Keisuke Honda missed from a similar position minutes later. Chances were still few and far between, despite half-chances for Paraguay's Cristian RIveros and Edgar Benitez, and Yuto Nagatomo for Japan. But penalties seemed inevitable, especially when substitute Keiji Tamada found space in the penalty area, but fired in an awful cross. So there was always going to be a scapegoat, and the penalties, on the whole. were well taken. But the villain of the piece was Yuichi Komano, as the right back fired his penalty against the crossbar. The South Americans scored all their five penalties, and it was left to substitute Oscar Cardozo to send his team into their first quarter-final in their history.

And Paraguay were joined in the quarter-final on Saturday night, by Spain, following an intriguing and topsy-turvy grudge match against Iberian neighbours Portugal. For the first half, Portugal were largely comfortable, apart from the opening six minutes when their keeper Eduardo was tested by three long range shots - once by Fernando Torres (who aside from that, looked completely oout of sorts) and twice by David Villa (who did not). But Spain struggled to play their way through Portugal who defended with discipline and in massed numbers. Spanish keeper Iker Casillas looked particularly shaky, spilling shots from Cristiano Ronaldo and Tiago. On the latter occasion, the Real Madrid stopper had to be alert to beat the battering ram Hugo Almeida to the loose ball, and centre-backs Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol did not enjoy playing against the Werder Bremen man. Tiago and Almeida headed presentable chances wide, and the game continued in similar fashion in the second half. Almeida escaped down the left, and his cross towards Ronaldo was deflected off Puyol, and the ball bounced agonisingly wide of the post. But then we saw something we hadn't seen in the tournament to date - Spain had a Plan B. The increasingly ineffective Torres was withdraw just before the hour mark, to be replaced by Fernando Llorente - an almost English-like target man. Following a brilliant season for Athletic Bilbao, Spain finally had an outlet in the penalty area, and within a minute, Sergio Ramos swung in a cross from the right, and the striker to dived to head and brought a great save out of Eduardo. The tide had turned, Villa then fired a shot narrowly wide from 25 yards, but with their next attack, Spain finally made the breakthrough. An intricate passing move saw Llorente lay the ball off for Andres Iniesta, who slipped the ball in for partner-in-crime Xavi. A brilliant first time backheel saw his new Barcelona teammate onside, and although his first shot was saved by Eduardo, he showed great presence of mind to lift the ball over the keeper from the rebound. From here on in there was only one winner - Ramos and VIlla tested the excellent Eduardo, while Llorent glanced a header wide - Torres might be sweating for his starting berth. Portugal showed they had no Plan B, and found it hard to chase the game. Ronaldo got increasingly frustrated, and these Portuguese frustrations boiled over in the final minutes, as defender Ricardo Costa was sent off for an alleged elbow on Spanish defender Joan Capdevilla. There was no way back into the match for Portugal, while Spain gained revenge for being dumped out of Euro 2004 by their great rivals, as they moved close to a first semi-final since 1950.


STAR PLAYER - Fernando Llorente.

The Atheltic Bilbao striker completely changed the game after coming off the bench, and he will now fancy his chances of starting against Paraguay on Saturday. He added a different dimension to the Spanish attack, and acted as a fulcrum which Fernando Torres had failed to do thus far in the tournament. He almost scored immediately, and rattled the Portuguese defence - which allowed David VIlla to score for Spain, and hand his side the initiative they never relinquished.

GOAL OF THE DAY - David Villa

This wasn''t a hard choice, as it was the only goal of the day. But it was a beautiful goal, both in terms of it's build-up and execution. After near interchanges between Llorente, Iniesta and a back heel from Xavi, Villa was through on goal. Although his first effort was saved, he showed great composure to lift the follow-up over Eduardo, and it brushed the corssbar as the ball found the back of the net.

GAFFE OF THE DAY - Yuichi Komano.

A real head in hands moment for the Japanese defender, as his spot kick, which crashed off the crossbar, was the only one of nine which was missed, denying his team a chance of reaching their first ever World Cup quarter-final.

FANTASY TEAM

Keisuke Honda and Enrique Vera contributed little in their teams drab goalless draw, but David Villa, with his match-winning goal for Spain, added 13 points to my team's total.