Paraguay has been gearing up for its game against Japan in the knockout phase of the World Cup since it played its last game in group play on Thursday. The fireworks started last night, since the general strategy of most of Ciudad del Este's youth appeared to be: drink yourself silly all night and party 'til the 10am game.
Went to the office to see how Fundación Paraguaya celebrated the match. Poor things, their boss had them working up until (and during any pause in) the game...even though it was a ghost town outside, no clients came during the match and certainly *nobody* else in the entire country [except for the resident Brazilians and Argentines, perhaps] were more than a couple of meters from their TV sets.
The game was nail-bitting. No goal for either side by the half. Paraguay changed one of its strikers at the 60th minute and seemed to gain new speed and determination, but the end of regulation time arrived and both sides seemed to maintain an impenetrable defense and launched disorganized and ineffectual attacks on goal. Japan seemed content to let the Paraguayans tire themselves in the midfield and launch powerful counterattacks on rebounds. The Paraguayans brought an occasional flurry to the scoring box but lacked the accuracy and finesse to put the ball in the back of the net, or even seriously threaten Japan's imposing goalie.
30 minute overtime, Paraguay launched a strong attack but failed to score. Japan's striker, Honda, occasionally threatened to slip past Paraguay's big, physical defender Da Silva, but always came up short and seemed unable to find his teammates to combine for a goal.
End of overtime. Now it was down to the infamous penalty phase of World Cup play in the knock-out rounds. Neither Paraguay nor Japan had ever advanced to the quarterfinals. Villar, Paraguay's goalie, is unflappable under pressure...but he's small [if acrobatic], could he make a save and win the game? Japan's only error came with their third striker, who shot against the crossbar and Villar deftly batted the ball away. Both of the teams made their fourth attempt. It came to Paraguay's Oscar "Tacuara" Cardozo, who had been an infuriatingly inconsistent player in World Cup play. When he made the fifth of five attempts, even the otherwise-stony boss at Fundacion Paraguaya gave a shout of triumph.
And then all hell broke loose.
Instead of dancing in the streets, it appears as though Paraguayans have a penchant for "caravaning" in their cars, waving flags, throwing fireworks, blasting music, drinking beer [no open container laws in PY!]...and general pandemonium. Excellent!
The boss relented about work, observing that it was far too chaotic to head out for meetings (and like their clients would be available anyway! since everybody is out caravaning).
A historic game, a historic day, and Paraguay makes it farther in the World Cup than ever before! Vamos albiroja!!!
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