Paraguay earned its spot in the second round, Wednesday by beating Slovenia 3:1 and edging South Africa on a solitary goal difference. Slovenia made a strong showing in the first-half with Milenko Acimovic scoring the 100th goal of the FIFA World Cup finals in first-half injury time. But the tides turned in the second half with the South Americans down to ten men fighting back and getting the three goals they needed. Substitute Nelson Cuevas scored in the 66th minute to level the game, followed by Jorge Campos adding another seven minutes later to give Paraguay the lead.

With time running out Cuevas gave his team their place in the second round with his second goal, although with the Spain-South Africa match also underway he may not have known it at the time.

Paraguay will now play group E winners Germany in the knockout phase of the tournament in Sogwipo on Saturday.

(Chris Price, chris@chosun.com )