World Cup Group B - Late Goal Saves Swedish Blushes (Sweden 1 - Paraguay 0)

Every single game thus far in the second round of games in the group stages has produced late late goals, not that the Swedes are complaining. And neither am I. As long as there are goals, I'm happy.

For most parts of this game, neither team looked like scoring. Sweden for all their scoring prowess up front with Larsson, Ibrahimovic and Allback, were unable to breech the Paraguay defence, until the 88th minute. Allback came the closest around the 60th minute with a lob, only to have the Paraguay defence clear it off the line.

Paraguay on the other hand were reduced to taking pot shots from outside the penalty box which hardly troubled Isaksson. They were pretty ineffective as an attacking force, but were resolute in defence, keeping the Swedish forwards at bay.

Towards the last 15 minutes, the Swedes were visibly tiring as Paraguay started to come forward. As luck would have it, Ljungberg scored in the 88th minute to send the South Americans home. I had almost believed that Sweden would not score a single goal in this World Cup.

As it stands, Sweden and Trinidad & Tobago have all to play for in the last group games, which should make the games interesting to watch. So far there still hasn't been any outright upsets. I'm hoping for some surprises, or else this World Cup is going to be one of the more boring ones.