The beginning of the 20th century was the period of foundation of football in Paraguay. The Liga Paraguaya de Futbol appeared in 1906 and in 1910 the first Paraguay national team was set up to play in a friendly match against Hercules from Corrientes. That game wasn’t included in the list of team’s international games because the team was accepted in CONMEBAL and became the member of FIFA in 1925 only. But the game against Argentina in 1919 is considered to be the first match for Paraguay to play.
The team failed to play in 1990 and 1994 World Cups but since 1998 it has become a regular participant of the Mundial. Jose Luis Chilavert became the best goalkeeper of the tournament alongside Fabien Barthez. In 1999 Paraguay hosted the Copa America but didn’t manage to leave the quarter-final. The team reached 1/8 finals in 2002 World Cup but failed to repeat the success in 2006.
Paraguay successfully qualified for 2010 World Cup and was seeded in one group with Italy (the reigning champion), Slovakia and New Zealand (one of the weakest teams). The Paraguay national team played a draw with Italy and New Zealand, then defeated Slovakia and topped the group for the first time. In 1/8 finals the squad beat Japan on penalties and in the World Cup round of four lost to powerful Spain 0-1. Oscar Cardozo didn’t use the chance to score a penalty.
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