Paraguay beat Japan on penalties

Paraguay are in the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time after beating Japan 5-3 in a penalty shoot-out in Pretoria.

With neither side able to make the breakthrough during 120 minutes of precious few goalscoring chances or notable incidents, it needed the first shoot-out of the 2010 World Cup to separate the two nations.

And it was Paraguay who emerged victorious after Japan defender Yuichi Komano, looking to make it 3-3, slammed his effort against the crossbar.

That proved to be the crucial miss as Paraguay scored all five of their efforts, with Oscar Cardozo casually slotting home the winning spot-kick to send his team wild.

Paraguay will now meet the winners of tonight's match between Spain and Portugal for a place in the semi-finals, while the Blue Samurai head home after seeing their own dreams of a maiden World Cup quarter-final ended.