David Villa Spain's hero as they beat Iberian neighbours Portugal 1-0

David Villa was once again Spain's hero as they beat Iberian neighbours Portugal 1-0 to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.

The Barcelona striker scored his fourth goal of the tournament, his seventh in as many World Cup starts, with a poacher's finish in the 63rd minute in Cape Town to complete a fine Spain move against a Portugal side that was reduced to ten men in the final moments when Ricardo Costa was sent-off for violent conduct.

Two years to the day since their European Championship triumph, Spain were the more fluid team throughout and deserved their victory, which sets up a quarter-final clash against Paraguay in Johannesburg on Saturday.

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque named the same starting line-up that beat Chile in their last game, while Simao Sabrosa and Hugo Almeida returned to the Portugal side for the first ever World Cup finals clash between the Iberian rivals.

The action started almost immediately, Liverpool striker Fernando Torres bending a shot that Portugal goalkeeper Eduardo had to scramble to save, before making an almost identical stop to keep out Villa's effort.

At the other end, Tiago tested Iker Casillas from the edge of the box and then he and Almeida missed the target with headers from unmarked positions.

Both sides came out after the beak with more purpose, and Portugal nearly took the lead in the 52nd minute when Almeida's cross took a deflection and looped just wide of the post.

Spain responded and Villa smashed an effort just wide before substitute Fernando Llorente, on for Fernando Torres, headed straight at Eduardo from point blank range.

Spain took the lead two minutes later and it took something special for Portugal to concede only their second goal in 13 internationals. Some wonderful build-up play from Andres Iniesta and Xavi set up Villa, whose first shot was saved by Eduardo before his second found its way into the goal via the underside of the crossbar.

Sergio Ramos and Villa both forced Eduardo into a diving saves as Spain pushed to double their advantage. Portugal rallied late on but Costa saw red after he appeared to direct an elbow towards Joan Capdevila and Spain played some of their customary passing football to comfortably see the game out.

Line-Ups:

Spain: Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Joan Capdevilla, Xabi Alonso (Carlos Marchena 90+2'), Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Fernando Torres (Fernando Llorente 59'), David Villa (Pedro 87')

Portugal: Eduardo, Bruno Alves, Ricardo Costa, Ricardo Carvalho, Fabio Coentreao, Raul Meireles, Pepe (Pedro Mendes 72'), Tiago, Cristiano Ronaldo, Simao Sabrosa (Liedson 72'), Hugo Almeida (Danny 58')

Samurai team struggle eliminated a penalty shootout : Japan 0-0 Paraguay

Japanese star Keisuke Honda led Japan's attack but the Blue Samurai lost 5-3 to Paraguay on a penalty shootout in the World Cup last-16 match. The CSKA Moscow midfielder, who scored two goals and set up another in the group stage, played as lone frontman for the fourth straight game with support from J-League forward Yoshito Okubo and Grenoble's Daisuke Matsui.

An inconclusive first phase continued after half-time despite Honda's tireless runs up and down the pitch. In the 71st minute, Honda fed a through pass to substitute forward Shinji Okazaki in the box. But the prolific Shimizu S-Pulse forward, who had scored against Denmark on a Honda cross, could only hit his effort into a Paraguay defender.

Honda received his first yellow card of his World Cup debut tournament in stoppage time for handling the ball in midfield before the game headed into extra-time at 0-0.

Line-Ups:

Paraguay: Justo Villar, Antolin Alcaraz, Paulo Da Silva, Claudio Morel Rodriguez, Carlos Bonet, Nestor Ortigoza (Edgar Barretto 75'), Cristian Riveros, Enrique Vera, Edgar Benitez (Nelson Valdes 59'), Roque Santa Cruz (Oscar Cardozo 91'), Lucas Barrios

Japan: Eiji Kawashima, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Yuji Nakazawa, Yugo Nagatomo, Yuichi Komano, Yuki Abe (Kengo Nakamura 80'), Yasuhito Endo, Makoto Hasebe, Yoshito Okubo (Keiji Tamada 105'), Keisuke Honda, Daisuke Matsui (Shinji Okazaki 65')

Brazil beat Chile 3-0 to reach quarterfinals

While its fans paraded around the stadium with two huge replicas of the World Cup trophy, Brazil clinically beat South American rival Chile 3-0 to advance to the quarterfinals Monday.

The players were almost nonchalant about yet another victory over a personal patsy — Chile hasn't beaten Brazil in a decade — as they shook hands and exchanged hugs. They let the folks in the stands do the same samba and the singing as they moved closer to holding the real prize.

Five-time champion Brazil will face the Netherlands, which earlier Monday defeated Slovakia 2-1, on Friday.

Juan opened the scoring in the 35th minute at Ellis Park Stadium with a firm header from near the penalty spot off a corner kick. Luis Fabiano added to the lead in the 38th, receiving a one-touch pass from Kaka and dribbling past goalkeeper Claudio Bravo inside the area before hitting the open net.

Robinho scored his first goal in the tournament with a shot from the top of the area in the 59th minute, a one-timer into the far corner. It was Robinho's seventh goal in Brazil's last six matches against the Chileans.
Chile is the first South American team eliminated. Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay are in the final eight, and Paraguay plays Japan on Tuesday.

The victory in front of nearly 55,000 fans at Ellis Park extended Brazil's dominance over Chile. It was the eighth consecutive win; the last loss to Chile was 3-0 in a 2000 qualifier for the 2002 World Cup.

Brazil has now reached the quarterfinals of the World Cup every time since the 1990 tournament in Italy, when it fell 1-0 to Diego Maradona's Argentina in the second round. Brazil coach Dunga and assistant coach Jorginho were starters in that Brazilian team.

The Brazilians won the 1994 and 2002 World Cups in that span.

Source : deccanchronicle.com

Line-Ups:

Brazil: Julio Cesar, Juan, Lucio, Michel Bastos, Maicon, Gilberto Silva, Ramires, Kaka (Kleberson 79'), Robinho (Gilberto Melo 85'), Dani Alves, Luis Fabiano (Nilmar 76')

Chile: Claudio Bravo, Gonzalo Jara, Pablo Contreras (Rodrigo Tello 46'), Ismael Fuentes, Mauricio Isla (Rodrigo Millar 61'), Carlos Carmona, Jean Beausejour, Arturo Vidal, Mark Gonzalez (Jorge Valdivia 46'), Alexis Sanchez, Humberto Suazo

Arjen Robben scored opener and Wesley Sneijder finalize with crucial goal : Slovakia 1-2 Netherland

An individual goal by winger Arjen Robben helped Netherlands into the quarter-finals of the World Cup as he set them on the way to a 2-1 victory over Slovakia on Monday.

Robben struck in the 18th minute when he ran on to a long through ball from Wesley Sneijder, turned and slammed in a left-footed shot past Jan Mucha in the Slovak goal. Sneijder added a second after a pass from Dirk Kuyt in the 84th.
It was the first start of the tournament and the first goal for Robben, who came to the finals carrying a hamstring injury.

Slovakia grabbed a late consolation goal through a Robert Vittek penalty with the last kick of the match. The Dutch will play the winners of the second round game between Brazil and Chile later on Monday in the quarter-finals.

Line-Ups:

Netherlands: Maarten Stekelenburg, Joris Mathijsen, John Heitinga, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Gregory Van Der Wiel, Nigel De Jong, Mark Van Bommel, Wesley Sneijder (Ibrahim Afellay 90'), Arjen Robben (Eljero Elia 70'), Dirk Kuyt, Robin Van Persie (Klas Jan Huntelaar 80')

Slovakia: Jan Mucha, Jan Durica, Martin Skrtle, Radoslav Zabavnik (Martin Jakubko 86'), Peter Pekarik, Marek Hamsik (Marek Spara 86'), Juraj Kucka, Erik Jendrisek (Kamil Kopunek 71'), Miroslav Stoch, Vladimir Weiss, Robert Vittek

Higuain scored Carlos Tevez double to face Germany in session big match : Argentina 3-1 Mexico

Argentina beat Mexico 3-1 Sunday to set up a tantalising quarter-final against Germany thanks to a brace from Carlos Tevez with a Gonzalo Higuain strike sandwiched between.

Tevez’s opener had been clearly off side and will spark great debate on a day when a refereeing error marked the England Germany match. Tevez however struck a thunderbolt for the third, one of the best individual goals at the World Cup so far.

Mexico played well and can look to a fine control, shimmy and strike from Javier Hernandez on 71 minutes which pegged it back to 3-1 and reflected the role the Central Americans played in this last 16 tie.

Line-Ups:

Argentina: Sergio Romero, Nicolas Otamendi, Martin Demichelis, Nicolas Burdisso, Gabriel Heinze, Javier Mascherano, Maxi Rodriguez (Javier Pastore 86'), Angel Di Maria (Jonas Gutierrez 76'), Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez (Juan Veron 68'), Gonzalo Higuain.

Mexico: Oscar Perez, Efrain Juarez, Francisco Rodriguez, Rafael Marquez, Carlos Salcido, Ricardo Osorio, Andres Guardado (Guilermo Franco 62'), Gerardo Torrado, Adolfo Bautista (Pablo Barrera 45'), Giovani Dos Santos, Javier Hernandez.

Klose and Podolski scored, Thomas Mueller double : England 1-4 Germany

Thomas Mueller scored twice in the second half Sunday and England had a goal not awarded by the referee in a 4-1 victory that put Germany into the World Cup quarterfinals.

The 20-year-old forward finished two quick German counterattacks within 3 minutes to sink England's hopes of beating Germany at the World Cup for the first time since the 1966 final.

England was not helped by referee Jorge Larrionda waving play on even though Frank Lampard's first-half shot landed well past the goal line after hitting the crossbar. Germany led 2-1 at the time.

Germany went up on goals by Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski before Matthew Upson pulled a goal back in the 37th minute.

On Lampard's non-goal, after the ball landed inside the goal, it ball spun back into the arms of Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. England coach Fabio Capello initially celebrated what he thought was an equalizer by clenching his fists and shaking his arms. But his face changed when he realized the goal had not been given.

Line-Ups:

Germany: Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Arne Friedrich, Per Mertesacker, Jerome, Boateng, Thomas Mueller (Piotr Trochowski 72'), Sami Khedira, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski, Mesut Ozil (Stefan Kiessling 83'), Miroslav Klose (Mario Gomez 73').

England: David James, Glen Johnson (Shaun Wright-Phillips 87'), Matthew Upson, John Terry, Ashley Cole, James Milner (Joe Cole 64'), Steven Gerrard, Fank Lampard, Mr Gareth Barry, Jermain Defoe (Emile Heskey 71 '), Wayne Rooney.

Prince Boateng and Asamoah Gyan resume sole African representative : Ghana 2-1 USA

Ghana, the only African team left in the tournament, celebrated moving into the quarterfinals against Uruguay on Friday in Johannesburg after beat USA 2-1

Kevin Prince Boateng put Ghana ahead when he stripped the ball from Ricardo Clark in the 5th minute and beat goalkeeper Tim Howard from 16 yards.

Once again, the U.S. came back, and Landon Donovan tied the score with a penalty kick in the 62nd minute after Jonathan Mensah pulled down Clint Dempsey streaking in. But no matter how much the Americans pressured after Gyan scored, they couldn't tie it again.

In the first-ever extra time World Cup game for the U.S., Gyan got the winning goal when he took a long ball from Andre Ayew over the defense and beat U.S. captain Carlos Bocanegra, his teammate on the French club Rennes. Gyan let the ball bounce, took a touch with his chest, and with Jay DeMerit vainly trying to catch up, scored over goalkeeper Tim Howard with a left-footed shot from 16 yards.

Line-Ups:

USA.: Tim Howard, Steve Cherundolo, Jay DeMerit, Jonathan Bornstein, Carlos Bocanegra, Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark (Maurice Edu 31'), Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore (Hercule Gomez 90'), Robie Findley (Benny Feilhaber 45').

Ghana: Richard Kingson, John Pantsil, Jonathan Mensah, John Mensah, Hans Sarpei (Lee Addy 72'), Anthony Annan, Samuel Inkoom (Sulley Muntari 111'), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Stephane Appiah 78'), Dede Ayew; Kwadwo Asamoah, three-Asamoah Gyan.