It was all square in Group F before this game, but Paraquay were probably happier with their point against Italy than Slovakia were with theirs against New Zealand.

The first real strike of the game fell to Paraguay's Roque Santa Cruz. The shot might have taken a slight deflection off Martin Skrtel, but Jan Mucha - heading to Everton next season - took no chances and made sure the ball went out for a corner.

Slovakia's best move came when Vladimir Weiss woke up in the 16th minute; to find Stanislav Sestak, asleep in his place.

A couple of minutes later, Cristian Riveros drove the shot low and hard for Paraguay. Not much of a Jabulani moment for Mucha though.

Paraguay finally put the pieces together, shortly before the half-hour mark, when Lucas Barrios released Enrique Vera; after drawing a couple of Slovakia players out of the danger area.

Seven minutes before the break, Vera forced a mistake in the Slovakia defence but Mucha kicked out his foot to save from Roque Santa Cruz.

A minute later, Paraguay's Lucas Barrios again looked a handful running to the touchline.

Half-time: 0:1

As Slovakia tried to get themselves back in the game and Paraguay looked to gain a better advantage, the game still had a lot of potential, around the hour mark.

Sadly, this is about the time that all the substitutions start taking place and a lot of the game's rhythm is broken.

Enrique Vera missed the chance to give Paraguay the cushion they needed; when he headed wide from a Roque Santa Cruz, left-wing cross.

Slovakia seemed content to contain Paraguay and maybe hope to snatch a late equaliser, or conserve energy and hope to get the better of Italy.

Either way, Slovakia's lack of conviction cost them another goal; as a Paraguay free-kick from the left was headed into the middle and, after a little mix-up, squared beautifully to Cristian Riveros.

Slovakia 0 Paraguay 2