Paraguay won the first penalty shootout of World Cup 2010 5-3 against Japan after a dire game ended goalless after 120 minutes in Pretoria.
Oscar Cardozo calmly slotted home the decisive penalty in the shootout after Yuichi Komano struck Japan's third spot-kick against the crossbar to register the only failure.
With both sides bidding for a first World Cup quarter-final spot in their history, fear of defeat seemed to grip the players in an almost chanceless game in which a shootout looked a likely scenario from very early on.
Paraguay now meet Spain or Portugal in the last eight.
