Paraguay, Japan want to make history
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The national soccer teams of Paraguay and Japan will seek on Tuesday to continue making history at the World Cup as both try to qualify for the quarterfinals for the first time.
The two sides will meet at 4:00 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) in "Lotus Versfeld" stadium in Pretoria, and Belgian Frank de Bleeckere will be the referee.
The Paraguayan team, coached by Argetnine Gerardo Martino, was one of the surprises in the first round to finish top of Group F.
Paraguay collected five points after tying 1-1 with Italy, wining 2-0 over Slovakia and tying nil with New Zealand.
Meanwhile, Japan, another surprise at this World Cup, got its ticket to the second round at the second place in Group E, with six points, after winning 1-0 over Cameroon, losing 1-0 to the Netherlands and beating Denmark 3-1.
The best performance of Japan was in 2002, when it co-hosted the World Cup with South Korea. At that time Japan reached the round of 16 but was eliminated by Turkey.
Meanwhile, Paraguay has reached the second round in Mexico 1986 losing 3-0 to England before falling to France 1-0 in 1998 France World Cup. In 2002, Paraguay was outpowered 1-0 by Germany.
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