Tempering the joy over Paraguay reaching the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time is the team's struggling strikers.

It took until Tuesday's penalty shootout against Japan for any of Paraguay's forwards to find the net. Spot kicks from Lucas Barrios, Nelson Valdez and Oscar Cardozo helped the South Americans clinch a 5-3 shootout victory over Japan after it ended 0-0 after 120 minutes.

Midfielders Cristian Riveros and Enrique Vera and defender Antolin Alcaraz scored the three goals that sent Paraguay through as group-stage winners.

"This is not normal for me. I just came from scoring a lot of goals," said Barrios, who scored 19 times for Borussia Dortmund last season. "The goals will come. I have enough experience to know that this drought will not go on forever. I just hope that it ends with Spain."

Because if Paraguay doesn't score in Saturday's quarterfinal against Spain, which beat Portugal 1-0 later Tuesday, its record-breaking run could end.

"I don't want to be unfair towards the attackers - perhaps sometimes it's a matter of how you get the ball (to them)," coach Gerardo Martino said. "Perhaps the ball should move faster and at different angles to reach the attackers.

"If our attacking players have more space they can certainly perform better. We have a great quality level among our players. I hope our future rivals may allow us to play in a different way, and perhaps not having to play the role of having to run the match. Giving us more space, perhaps that will be more convenient for us."

Paraguay started brightly against Japan, with a couple of squandered chances. Barrios neatly sidestepped the last defender, only to then weakly flick the ball with the outside of his right boot straight at goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima.

Paraguay forward Roque Santa Cruz could have ended his goal drought when the ball fell six metres out, but he shot wide under no pressure.

"It would be frustrating if we didn't score and we were going back home," said Santa Cruz, who scored three goals in five World Cup qualifiers. "We are not making ourselves crazy about the fact we aren't scoring. As strikers, it's been hard to get the ball."

As a mitigating factor, Japan had only conceded twice in the group stage.

"They are a very disciplined team and they didn't let us have a lot of chances to play our game, making it very hard," Santa Cruz said.

Back in Paraguay, the fans only care that the team is winning and they're hoping it doesn't stop now.

"The people are very excited and really enjoying it. It's a fantastic achievement for the country," Santa Cruz said. "We are (a country of) only five million people, and for most of them the only happiness they get is what we achieve as footballers."

And there is one particular fan watching from afar on the players' minds: Salvador Cabanas.

The striker would almost certainly have made Paraguay's starting lineup in South Africa. But his World Cup hopes were ended in January when he was shot at point-blank range in a Mexico City bar.

"About a week ago, a few of us called him from the room," Riveros said. "We'll call him again for sure. We have good news that he's in the second stage of his recovery and he's doing well.

"What we achieve is for him, because he's always with us in spirit."

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