World Cup - Paraguay 3 Slovenia 1

An 85th minute goal from substitute Nelson Cuevas put Paraguay into the second round of the World Cup thanks to goals scored.

Paraguay ended level on points and goal difference with South Africa but go through to meet Germany on Saturday thanks to Cuevas’ effort.

He skipped inside one tackle on the right wing and then carried the ball away from another defender before crashing a hot against the underside of the crossbar.

Cuevas gave Paraguay a little hope in the 66th minute when he ran into the penalty area and stepped away from a defender to score with a low left-foot shot and then Jorge Campos hit in an angled drive to put Paraguay ahead in the 76th minute.

Goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert then forced goalkeeper Marko Simeunovic to touch a long range free kick onto the bar as Paraguay were further encouraged by a red card for Slovenia substitute Ales Ceh and they rallied to get the crucial goal and knock out South Africa.

The South Americans needed a substantial win but were reduced to ten men in the 22nd minute when Carlos Paredes was red carded for a second booking and Paraguay took most of the game to recover.

Paraguay controlled the fast half but went behind in injury time with a blunder by goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert.

The podgy ‘keeper let a shot from an extreme wide angle by Milenko Acimovic through his legs to give Slovenia an edge they worked well in the second half.

Just before the hour mark Acimovic crashed a shot against the crossbar with Chilavert standing still and watching after Slovenia had gone close with efforts from Mladen Rudonja and Milan Osterc.

Jose Cardozo had sent in a glancing header on 15 minutes to test goalkeeper Marko Simeunovic and sent a header into his arms later in the first half but the second session saw the whole group change.