Expert Blogs

And so there is only one South American side left standing as the World Cup moves into its closing week. And that team through to the last four is Uruguay, which finished fifth in South America's qualification campaign.

Meanwhile Brazil and Argentina are left to lick their wounds. Chile have nothing to reproach themselves for, and nor, emphatically, do Paraguay, after reaching the quarter-finals for the first time before bowing out 1-0 to Spain.

In retrospect, Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino may regret having dropped centre forward Lucas Barrios in favour of Oscar Cardozo -- and not just because Cardozo missed a penalty that would have put his team into the lead. Barrios is the more mobile of the two -- as demonstrated when he engineered a late chance after coming on for the closing minutes.

The stakes were high for Cardozo. In the previous round's shoot out against Japan he had confidently rolled home the penalty that sent Paraguay into the quarter-finals. But for all his European club success with Benfica, he has never won the hearts of the Paraguayan supporters. Having his spot kick saved by Iker Casillas will not help matters.

Perhaps had Paraguay gone with Barrios from the start then things might have worked out differently. It is one of those assertions that can never be tested. In general, though, Martino got the calls right.

He had said that Paraguay had not impressed in some of their World Cup matches because they were ill equipped to take the initiative in the game. Against Spain this was not a problem. The initiative would be with the Spanish, with defence as Paraguay's first priority.

But the South Americans showed that defending need not be passive. They pressed the Spanish and adopted an aggressive posture, looking to win the ball and initiate a quick break.

This has been Martino's big mission ever since he took charge at the start of 2007, to try and get Paraguay playing higher up the pitch. Even in defeat, he can look at the Spain game as evidence of success.

The longer then game went on, though, the greater the chance of the Spanish breaching Paraguay's back line.

Firstly because Paraguay had been through extra time in the previous round against Japan. Though six changes had been made to that team, there were still plenty of exhausted limbs on the field at Johannesburg. On the way to setting up the decisive goal, Andres Iniesta skipped past a tired looking challenge from Paraguayan centre back Antolin Alcaraz.

Secondly, because with 15 minutes to go Spain finally introduced a winger. This current Spanish side is packed with excellent midfielders, but does seem to suffer from a lack of width. The introduction of Pedro after 75 minutes changed the picture, stretching the Paraguayan defence and helping create the space into which Iniesta could launch his run.

Indeed, when Spain finally scored it was Pedro who latched on to Iniesta's square pass, driving his shot against the post only for David Villa to knock in the rebound.

It left Paraguay with little time to respond. Barrios forced a save from Casillas, who then blocked the follow up from Roque Santa Cruz. But there was no more fire to be found -- and there could be no complaints about Spain's victory. Paraguay punched above their weight, but a team which fails to score in three consecutive games does not deserve to be in the semifinals of a World Cup.

They can go home happy, though, in the knowledge that they have made history by reaching the quarter-finals. Unlike Argentina, who have little consolation after going out at the same stage, thumped 4-0 by Germany.

After Argentina's previous game against Mexico I wrote that coach Diego Maradona had some serious thinking to do about the balance of his side to take on the Germans. He didn't do it. End of story.