Paraguay at the FIFA World Cup in France by qualifying in second place in South America, behind Argentina. The first round matches were against Bulgaria (0–0), Spain (0–0), and Nigeria (3–1; goals Celso Ayala, Miguel Ángel Benítez and José Cardozo). Paraguay qualified to the second round (Round of 16) to be defeated in a thrilling match against hosts and eventual World Champions France. France only scored through Laurent Blanc in the 114th minute, during the second half of overtime (making it the first golden goal scored in a World Cup). Paraguay's central defending duo (Carlos Gamarra and Celso Ayala) and goalkeeper José Luis Chilavert were selected
Asian nations at the FIFA World Cup received his second yellow card for diving in the penalty area. Ten-men Italy finally fell to a 117th-minute, golden goal header scored by Ahn Jung-hwan, who at the time was ironically playing for Italian club Perugia. In the quarter-finals, Spain were unable to win a second consecutive penalty shootout, losing to South Korea after having two goals controversially disallowed in normal time, with South Korea becoming the first (and, as of 2018, the only) team from outside Europe and the Americas to reach the last four of a World Cup. Four minutes after the restart, a Spanish goal was disallowed,