Paraguay ruin dreadlock holiday

A Brent Sancho own goal in the first half and a Nelson Cuevas strike late in the match were enough for Paraguay to go home winners and finish their tournament on a high note.

Neither Paraguay nor Trinidad & Tobago had scored a goal for themselves in the tournament before this match, and that was still the case at half time as the Paraguayan lead came courtesy of Gillingham defender Sancho’s own goal.

Sancho, who was involved in the controversial Peter Crouch goal whilst playing against England scored the own-goal which was remarkably similar to the own-goal Paraguayan captain Carlos Gamarra scored also when playing England.

Golden shower: Nelson Cuevas celebrates his match sealing goal

Pachuca striker Cuevas, who came on as a substitute for Nelson Valdez in the 66th minute, sealed the match for Paraguay when he beat the offside trap to go one-on-one with keeper Kelvin Jack, slotting home inside the left post.

For a match in which they needed to win by two goals or more to have any chance of qualifying for the next round, the Soca Warriors were kept awfully quiet by Paraguay with just nine shots allowed and only three on target.

Infact, for the whole tournament Leo Beenhakker’s side recorded an average of just 7 shots per match with only 3 on target – not enough to be competitive in the World Cup Finals.

The Caribbean islanders may have won many hearts around the footballing world with their stoic performances against Sweden and England, but in the end they finished last in Group B after not winning a game and not scoring a goal in their three matches.