spain won the world cup in 2010 in south africa.
spain won the world cup in 2010 in south africa.
who won the world cup in 2010 in south africa?
spain
paraguay came into the 2002 fifa world cup tournament with most of their players from france 98, for the first time in a major competition the number #9 was issued to 20-year-old roque santa cruz, as josé luís chilavert would captain the albirroja at the tournament. italian coach cesare maldini, would also take with him diego gavilán, julio césar cáceres, nelson cuevas, carlos bonet and justo villar to the tournament, young players in their early twenties who had ideally been brought into the squad to make way after the near future retirements of josé luis chilavert, ricardo tavarelli, francisco arce, celso ayala, estanislao struway and guido alvarenga. maldini's appointing as coach, which had taken place in january 2002, had caused controversy as domestic managers were overlooked (prompting the managers union to try to unsuccessfully expel him for immigration breaches and because he spoke little spanish). maldini nonetheless had the support of goalkeeper josé luis chilavert and several other senior players. maldini would become the oldest coach at the 2002 fifa world cup tournament, with the age of 70. his son, paolo maldini, captained italy at the same tournament. paraguay were drawn into group b with spain, south africa and slovenia. the albirroja would face south africa in their opening group stage match on 2 june at the busan asiad main stadium in south korea. paraguay were without goalkeeper and captain josé luís chilavert for their first match, as he had spat on brazil's roberto carlos during the qualification campaign, an action which caused fifa to give him a four-match suspension (later reduced to three) which forced him to watch paraguay's opening fixture against south africa from the stands. paraguay commenced with match with ricardo tavarelli as goalkeeper and carlos gamarra as captain. paraguay were presented with a free kick in the 39th minute, which was taken by francisco arce and eventually headed into the net by roque santa cruz. arce himself took another free kick in the 55th minute during the second half, underlining his accuracy with a dead ball, after making it 2–0. south africa replied with two goals during the last 30 minutes of the fixture to end the tie at 2–2. with the return of chilavert as captain and goalkeeper, paraguay faced spain in their next fixture on 7 june at the jeonju world cup stadium. in the 10th minute, francisco arce's shot on goal took a deflection off of spanish defender carles puyol and paraguay found themselves 1–0 in front. in the second half, spain's fernando morientes would score a double and their captain fernando hierro would also convert a penalty to defeat paraguay 3–1. the result obliged paraguay to gain three points from their next fixture in order to advance from the group stage. before the match had commenced, chilavert had vowed to score against spain if paraguay would receive a free kick 'within range', and after conceding two goals from morientes, chilavert almost redeemed himself with a good free kick attempt, but the shot was saved by iker casillas in the 78th minute. prior to paraguay's third group stage fixture against slovenia, they were required to win by a margin of three goals in order to go through to the round of 16. on 12 june, the two sides faced each other at the jeju world cup stadium, which saw carlos humberto paredes receive his second yellow card in the 22nd minute and paraguay eventually conceded a goal just as the first half concluded. in the second half, nelson cuevas was substituted onto the field for josé cardozo in the 61st minute and would level the scores in the 65th minute. jorge luis campos scored with a low long range strike to put paraguay ahead in the 73rd minute as slovenia would then be reduced to ten men after nastja čeh was red carded in the 81st minute. nelson cuevas would then score paraguay's third goal with a left footed strike in the 84th minute to win the match at 3–1. cuevas was ultimately awarded as the man of the match. spain had defeated south africa 3–2, meaning that although paraguay and south africa had finished with four points each, the albirroja would progress due to goal difference. after the match, captain josé luís chilavert stated that he was proud of his team and believed that they could accomplish a lot more. paraguay were then drawn against germany at the round of 16 stages. the two sides faced each other on 15 june, which saw star striker roque santa cruz substituted off of the field in the 29th minute due to injury. germany, who had been the more dominant side throughout the match, eventually scored in the 88th minute to win the match after oliver neuville netted past chilavert after receiving the ball which was crossed into him from the wing. roberto acuña would also receive his marching orders in the 92nd minute, receiving his second yellow card.
history of the paraguay national football team
a string of victories, albeit against marginal opposition, in the run up to the 2010 fifa world cup seemed to instill a sense of confidence in the team as well as the nation. for the 2010 world cup, the first in africa, south africa was placed in group a, along with mexico, surprise package and eventual semi-finalists uruguay and former world champions france. south africa played the first game, which opened the world cup 2010 football tournament with a 1–1 draw against mexico after taking the lead through a wonderful long-range siphiwe tshabalala strike. katlego mphela would hit the post late into the game as south africa, buoyed by a frenzied home crowd, so very nearly opened the tournament with a win. a heavy 3–0 defeat in the second group game against uruguay and a mexican win over france left south africa with a mountain to climb in order to progress beyond the group stage. for the deciding match against france, parreira would discard his previous tactics of a defensive-minded five-man midfield and a lone forward in favour of a more attacking formation utilising two forwards, as up until the france game south africa had focused more on not losing than they did on trying to win, but the heavy defeat against uruguay coupled with mexico's victory over france had now left them with a goal difference of negative three that needed to be overcome in order for them to progress. south africa would also require a favour from uruguay, needing the uruguayans to inflict a sizeable defeat on mexico to aid their chances of progress. the change in tactics worked as south africa gained the upper hand over the french, attacking at will. at the half south africa had a 2–0 lead thanks to goals from bongani khumalo & katlego mphela while uruguay were beating mexico 1–0 in the other group game. as it stood, south africa needed at least one more goal against france while uruguay needed to double their lead against mexico. sadly, it was not to be as while south africa did secure an historic victory over france, they failed to score again and conceded a late goal for a 2–1 victory while the uruguayans had failed to add to their lead, as they ran out 1–0 victors over mexico. for the second world cup in a row south africa finished level on points with second place but were eliminated, this time on goal difference while it had been on goals scored in 2002. elimination in the group stage made south africa the first hosts to fail to progress beyond the first round of a world cup.
south africa national football team