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Today Paraguay Makes History!

After 90 minutes of regular time, 30 minutes of overtime and finally 5 penalty kicks, Paraguay defeated Japan by 1 goal and qualified for the quarter finals to face off against Spain next Saturday. This is the first time Paraguay has reached this position in its soccer history! Eight teams of 32 remain to claim the trophy.

After the game our entire town (and every city in the nation) began festivities with fireworks, spontaneous caravans and red and white decorated jubilee.  


We immediately jumped into our car, grabbed our flags and joined the caravan.  Timmy got into the excitement saying "Paraguay, Paraguay!" joining the thousands on the streets.

Children, bikers, motocyclists, people driving Mercedes and anything that barely moves celebrated the big win.
Zach and David, our interns cheer between the blasting horns.
The President has declared the two-hour Paraguayan games to be national holidays!  Almost all businesses allowed employees to halt work during the game and for an hour after to watch the parade.

At the local hardware store the owner says, he does not remember such a massive, spontaneous celebration in the history of our town.
Today was a momentous day for Paraguay! For a few hours, the people of Paraguay put aside color, social class, political parties and points of view to agree, and cheer for one nation's victory.
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  1. MortonJuly 2, 2010 at 8:07 PM

    Itaugua was a very exciting place as well. We ate lunch in town after the win, but forgot our camera- I was so sad. Your pics are great!

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