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Shootout brings game to life
Updated: July 2, 2010, 10:02 AM ET
By
Chris Jones | Special to ESPN.com
PRETORIA, South Africa -- It was the only way to bring a merciful end to a terrible game that ultimately won't mean a thing.
Paraguay and Japan had ground each other to respective halts, together playing more than 120 minutes of defensive, tentative, boring, chanceless soccer. Neither country had ever advanced past the World Cup's round of 16, and each played scared, flat-out terrified to miss out on a historic opportunity to get throttled in a quarterfinal. It was as though the players ...
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