The Hindu : Paraguay makes second round

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 13, 2002

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Sport - Football

Paraguay makes second round

Paraguayan goakeeper Jose Luis Chilavert is hugged by teammate Carlos Gamarra (right) after Paraguay beat Slovenia in a Group B match in Seogwipo, South Korea on Wednesday. — AP

SEOGWIPO (South Korea) June 12. Paraguay clinched a second-round berth in the World Cup with a stunning comeback Wednesday, beating Slovenia 3-1 thanks to a goal from Nelson Cuevas six minutes from time.

The two-goal margin was enough after Spain beat South Africa 3-2, leaving Paraguay and South Africa each with one win, one draw and one loss and no advantage in goal difference. Paraguay finished the first round in Group B with six goals to South Africa's five.

Paraguay played with 10 men for almost 70 minutes after Carlos Paredes received two yellow cards in the opening 20 minutes for challenges on Milenko Acimovic and Miran Pavlin.

Paraguay 3 Slovenia 1

Nelson Cuevas 2, Jorge Campos 1; Milenko Acimovic 1

Cuevas scored the first of his two goals in the 65th minute, beating two defenders and wrong-footed Slovenian 'keeper Mladen Dabanovic with a left-foot strike to level the score after Milenko Acimovic had given Slovenia a 1-0 lead at halftime.

The River Plate forward made a strong burst on the right flank as soon as he replaced Jose Cardoza in the 62nd minute and turned the game.

Jorge Campos put the Paraguayans ahead when he blasted a shot past Dabanovic from directly in front in the 73rd minute and Cuevas notched his second in the 84th minute after a brilliant, dribbling run around two defenders. His shot hit the underside of the crossbar and crashed into the net.

The third goal brought coach Cesare Maldini onto the field in disbelief after he'd hugged half his staff in the dugout. ``We have to suffer in football and our team today suffered a lot. We had to fight a lot in this match,'' Maldini said. ``We had some difficulties, especially after Paredes went out ... but our team has a good physical condition and they play very well.

``I had some hopes of qualification from this match. We can say that in the first match we were not so lucky and we could have got another result against South Africa.''

Paraguay now plays Germany at Seogwipo, South Korea, in the round of 16.

``Like all World Cup games it will be very difficult,'' he said. ``Now we will relax a little bit. We have time to think before the next match and we have to play as we know how to play.''

The Paraguayans were ecstatic when the fulltime whistle blew after three minutes of injury time, running for the corners and peeling shirts off as they jumped and whooped in celebration.

Captain Jose Luis Chilavert clasped his hands, still with his goalkeepers' gloves on, and then held them up to the heavens.

He'd almost scored himself on a free kick in the last 15 minutes, but his opposite number was equal to the challenge, tipping a perfect curling drive over the cross bar.

Paraguay, which lost 3-1 to Spain and wasted a 2-0 lead before drawing with South Africa 2-2, needed to win over Slovenia to have any chance of advancing.

``We played much of the match a man down, but our team stayed together,'' said Chilavert. ``I'm proud of this team and I think we can accomplish a lot more.

``We're a small country, but we have lots of quality players. We played against a difficult opponent, but we played with pride.''

Slovenia, looking for at least one win at its first World Cup, threatened to get it.

Mladen Rudonja stole possession from a Paraguay defender in the square but failed to get his shot past Chilavert.

Acimovic almost got a second goal but his curling right-foot strike from 20 meters bounced off the woodwork. Milan Osteric drove a shot over the crossbar on the hour as the Slovenians kept up the attack.

But the Slovenians couldn't handle the fast-flowing Paraguayan attackers after Cuevas was injected into the game and conceded a flurry of yellow cards before losing its one-man advantage when midfielder Nestja Ceh was red carded for a crude challenge in the dying minutes.

Spain won all three of its first-round matches to top Group B.

The teams: Slovenia: 12-Mladen Dabanovic, 3-Zeljko Milinovic, 7-Doni Novak, 8-Ales Ceh, 9-Milan Osterc (Senad Tiganj, 80), 11-Miran Pavlin (13-Mladen Rudonja, 39), 15-Rajko Tavcar, 18-Milenko Acimovic (20-Nastja Ceh, 63), 19-Amir Karic, 21-Sebastjan Cimirotic, 23-Spasoje Bulajic.

Paraguay: 1-Jose Luis Chilavert, 2-Francisco Arce, 4-Carlos Gamarra, 5-Celso Ayala, 8-Guido Alvarenga (11-Jorge Campos, 54), 9-Roque Santa Cruz, 10-Roberto Acuna, 13-Carlos Paredes, 18-Julio Cesar Caceres, 20-Jose Cardozo (23-Nelson Cuevas, 62), 21-Denis Caniza.

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