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
2014 FIFA World Cup statistics numbers indicate the maximum values in each column. The Netherlands was the only team that used all 23 players during the tournament, making it the first team in World Cup history to ever use all of its squad players. 2014 FIFA World Cup statistics The following article outlines the statistics for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July. Goals scored from penalty shoot-outs are not counted, and matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws. James Rodríguez was awarded the Golden Boot for scoring six goals, the first time that