The first half ended with a goalless draw, although Paraguay's goal was wrongly disallowed. It was not an offside. Another referee's mistake...
And the second... When it come to those situations with penalties. It was amazing! I was sure Casillas is going to save it. He saved penalties before, both in game and in penalty shootout. Didn't expect, however, that Villar will save a penalty too.
Both goalkeepers were lucky. Villar saved the re-take of a penalty, but it was almost scored, as he let the ball out of his hand. He clipped Fabregas who was first to reach the loose ball. Could be booked for that but refeere either haven't seen this or choose to not see it. Then Casillas in the last minutes of the match. He made a good save but bounced the ball straight on Paraguayan players foot. Amazingly he managed to save also the second shot.
This one time the stats didn't really show the effort of goalkeepers. 2 saves of Villar and 3 of Casillas but all of them were very good.
It was also interesting to see that both goalkeepers were the captains.
At ESPN page the both were named men of the match. Quote:
Men of the Match: Iker Casillas and Justo Villar - In a game devoid of much quality, both goalkeepers get an honourable mention. They both saved penalties to keep their respective teams in the match and the last time that happened was back in 1930 in a match between Argentina and Mexico.
Parguay did well on the World Cup. They showed more than Brazil and Argentina in their quarterfinals. The match with Japan might be boring, but the penalty shootout made up it. Now the thrilling second half in the quarterfinal. More matches like this!
Now Spain is going to face Germany in the semi-final. It won't be easy. It won't be easy at all.
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