Posted by ESPN Stats & Information
Japan versus Paraguay, Tuesday
Loftus Versfeld Stadium -- Pretoria
Storylines
• Paraguay and Japan both look to reach the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time.
• Japan is Asia's last team standing, and coach Takeshi Okada has called on his team to represent the continent in the manner of Ghana for Africa.
• Okada's redemption: Japan's success has been especially sweet for the head coach. Under fire from the media and fans throughout his tenure, Okada offered his resignation after Japan lost its last home game 2-0 to archrivals South Korea on May 24.
• While the offense has struggled, Paraguay has been solid at the back, posting two straight shutouts, and the only goal allowed came from a goalkeeper "howler."
Series history
• Paraguay leads series 2-1-3, with all games played since 1995. They last met in a 2008 friendly in Japan that ended in a 0-0 tie.
What to look for
• Keisuke Honda: One of the surprising stars of this World Cup Honda has scored two goals and been the creative spark for the Blue Samurai.
• Japan is one of the few teams to have had success with the Jabulani ball. Honda and Yasuhito Endo both scored directly from free kicks in the 3-1 win over Denmark.
• Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino was critical of his team's lack of movement off the ball following the 0-0 draw with New Zealand.
• Okada may have to overhaul his tactics to beat a scrappy Paraguay team. Japan's three group games were against attack-minded teams, but the match against Paraguay on Tuesday offers a different tactical challenge. Okada said Saturday the South Americans have mental strength and technical astuteness.
"They're a team that know how to play when it really counts," Okada said. "All South American teams are not necessarily the same, but Paraguay have a very similar game to Chile. They've got a very solid back line, they push forward in numbers and switch quickly from defense to attack."
• Roque Santa Cruz ranked fourth in the English Premier League with 19 goals for Blackburn during the 2007-08 season. But Santa Cruz has scored only seven goals over the last two seasons for Blackburn and Manchester City (in 39 games). Santa Cruz has played the entire game in each of Paraguay's last two games. He played the full 90 minutes for Manchester City only three times this season, and never in consecutive games.
From the research room
• Japan was one of three teams to use the same 11 starters in all three games during group play, along with New Zealand and North Korea. Over the past four World Cups (1994-2006), the only other team to do that was Germany in 2002.
• Paraguay has lost all three of its round of 16 matches at the World Cup and has been shut out each time.
• South American teams are 12-0-2 against Asian teams in World Cup play, and they have a 31-7 goal differential in those 14 games.
• Paraguay and Japan each took only seven corner kicks in the three games of group play. The only teams with as few corner kicks in the group stage were New Zealand (3), North Korea (4) and Slovenia (7). In contrast, England led all teams during the group stage with 29 CKs.