June 23, 2010
World Cup- Paraguay Defeats Slovakia 2-0
By Ally White
The Paraguay team attained its first World Cup victory over Slovakia, 2-0, in a match that they should have won widely this past Sunday. With the win, Paraguay has four points and leads the Group F. The team is close to obtain a place in the second round if they have a good result in the next game against New Zealand.
In the first half the game was played almost exclusively in the Slovakian area. The Slovaks were energetic and had much determination for this game since they blew a victory in extra time against New Zealand. A triumph that was already in their pocket (1-1) before the tie. However, the Paraguayan team also had their strength and it began to put pressure on the Slovakian defense.
From the start of the match, Paraguay blocked the exit of Slovakia and detained their game plan. Paraguay was very offensive, while Slovakia was devoted to defend and was unable to find the right player that could handle the attack.
However, Paraguay didn’t took long to score its first goal. In a great play, Lucas Barrios served a deep pass to Enrique Vera, who surpass Duric and Strba and defined with his right foot at minute 27, to put the score 1-0 in favor of Paraguay.
Paraguay was superior in the field as they attacked constantly Jansen Mucha’s goal. In the first half Roque Santa Cruz made a great play, but he ended up missing the shot in front of the goal. This could have been the 2-0 the Paraguayans were longing for.
Slovakia was missing their determination to fight even more. The Slovakian team stalled in a chasm. Even coach Vladimir Weiss didn’t knew what to do.
The second half was even more boring than the first half. Since Paraguay was comfortable with the lead and did not attack much, all we had left was an ineffective Slovakian’ attack.
Enrique Vera almost increased the advantage with a header that went wide after a great pass by Santa Cruz.
During the final minutes, Paraguay began to attack more and at minute 77, Aureliano Torres shot from outside the area but it went wide.
The Paraguayan Coach, Gerardo Martino, made some changes to manage the lead and ensure the victory. At the end, Paulo Da Silva, who was the master of the defense, sent a short pass to Cristian Riveros inside the area and with a left-footer Riveros scored the 2-0 at minute 86.
With this goal, the game came to an end with the victory of 2-0 in favor of the Paraguayans.
Enrique Vera stated that he and his teammates were really pleased with their performance and with the victory, as they are closer to qualify to the second round.
“We were good in defense, we did well in attack. It was a great match. We scored and we feel close to the round of 16,” Vera said.
With this victory Paraguay is placed on top of Group F and if they finished in first place they will possibly be facing Netherlands, who already qualified. However, the oranges need a positive result in the next game to ensure the first place of their group, while Paraguay has to do the same in their next match against New Zealand.
About the Author
Ally White has been a prominent writer on regular 2010 South Africa World Cup news, sports news and the sportsbetting industry for many exceptional sports web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.