Paraguay and Japan bored us to tears before giving us the first extra time and penalty shoot out of the 2010 World Cup while Portugal attempted to smother Spain’s oh so obvious passing and attacking talent and failed…just.

It should be no surprise that the Paraguay Japan game was no thriller. With so much at stake – neither side had ever made the quarter finals before – there was a tension and a fear in the game.

Neither side wanted to risk anything in going for a winner in normal time though to me it was Japan who were the slightly more adventurous. It was so slight, though, it’s not worth mentioning (oh, ok, Matsui hit the bar). Even going into extra time with the prospect of the penalty shoot out lottery looming there was no real desire from either side to score what would surely have been the winning goal.

The penalty shoot out itself didn’t raise much excitement, decided by Komano hitting the crossbar rather than the back of the net with his spot kick. Paraguay made no such mistake and their joy at reaching the quarters for the first time was there for all to see. Their reward? Spain.

Spain reached the quarter finals by overcoming a hard test from Portugal. Despite the final 1-0 scoreline this was an intriguing match to watch. Portugal had yet to concede a goal in these finals and you could see why. They defended in numbers, looking to attack on the counter whenever they could and in the first half it wasn’t often.

Spain probed and prodded, creating chances early on, David Villa and Fernando Torres forcing fine saves from Eduardo in the Portuguese goal. As the half wore on though, they began not so much to run out of ideas as lose their way in a forest of Portugal defenders and midfielders.

Torres’ influence waned rapidly and Portugal began to find chances of their own, making Casillas nervous in the process. Ronaldo tested him with a long range free kick and Casillas could only parry the ball, grateful to his defence for clearing so rapidly.

For Ronaldo it was a frustrating evening, Portugal’s defensive-mindedness often left him isolated, unable to bring his considerable talent into play.

Spain didn’t give up, continuing to search for the gap and eventually found it through, inevitably, David Villa. Xavi’s clever backheel was collected by Villa, his shot was saved by Eduardo but he collected the follow up and lifted it over the keeper and into the back of the net.

It’s unlikely the Spanish will face a tougher defence with the teams left in the tournament and their quick passing and movement could well now see them through to the final. It will be a good final for it too.

Ronaldo, left frustrated no doubt by his season as well as this game, ended this year by spitting at a TV camera. There’s no excuse for that but you can understand it. Carlos Queiroz never made the most of his best player.

Now we have these matches to look forward to:

• Holland v Brazil
• Uruguay v Ghana
• Argentina v Germany
• Paraguay v Spain

Some tasty ties there, eh.