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World Cup News :: World Cup : Spain 1-0 Paraguay - match report

Posted on 2010-07-03 by Gooner

Spain beat Paraguay 1-0 to move into the World Cup semi-finals in a game that was disappointing - apart from a weird penalty ridden three minutes.

Spain dominated the first half without creating much as Paraguay sat deep and were content to get to halftime with the game scoreless.

Paraguay missed a superb chance to take the lead in the 57th minute when Oscar Cardozo's spot-kick was saved by Iker Casillas, and a minute later Spain had also been awarded a penalty by referee Carlos Batres.

This time Xabi Alonso scored from the spot ... but ... the referee ruled it out due to obvious encroachment from 3 Spanish players, and the Alonso re-take was saved by goalkeeper Justo Villar.

In the ensuring scramble the keeper appeared to foul Cesc Fabregas from the rebound, but the referee was unsighted and Sergio Ramos's snapshot was blocked on the line.

Spain started to create more with Fabregas instrumental in giving Spain more movement, and David Villa eventually got the only goal of the game after 82 minutes - side footing a rebound that struck one post, rolled across the goal-line and hit the other post, before finally nestling in the net.

In truth, it was a brief flurry of excitement that was largely out of kilter during a game that saw relatively few other opportunities.

Sourced From : Gooners World Cup match reports

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World Cup : Germany 4-0 Argentina - match report