Paraguay or Japan will join Ghana in the list of unlikely teams to have progressed further than England in this World Cup and at the same time make their own history.

Whoever wins this ‘Last 16’ match will be entering the quarter finals of the tournament for the first time. Japan came out of Group E behind Holland and ahead of Denmark and Cameroon. Their 3-1 victory over the Danes was achieved with a degree of skill and flair that made the pundits sit up and take note. Paraguay won Group F with just five points and it’s no surprise to see that section, along with the one containing France and the hosts as one of the weakest at the finals. Drawing with New Zealand and a poor Italian team should not be enough to progress as winners, but they have not only done that they are also favourites to make the last eight. The ‘to qualify’ prices show Paraguay as 8/15 with Blue Square and Japan at 11/8. The ninety minute match odds have Paraguay at 11/10, the draw at 11/5 and Japan at 11/4.

Keisuke Honda made headlines in Japan’s last game and he features (with a number of other players) in the exclusive Blue Square Player Special markets. Honda is 12/5 to score at anytime in the game and 9/1 to score from outside the box. For a player that likes long-shots he also appeals at 10/1 to hit the woodwork. Paraguay’s Roque Santa Cruz will be familiar to viewers in Britain but has not featured as much as he would have liked here. He needs to put in a big performance in this game – he has one yellow card to show for his efforts so far. Santa Cruz is 6/1 to score the first goal of the game and 4/1 to score in any Paraguay victory.

Both defences are well organised so goals could be at a premium. That’s reflected in a ‘total goals’ market which has ‘under 2.5’ pitched at 1/2. Low scoring ‘correct-scores’ appear at the head of the market. 1-0 to Paraguay is 5/1 and the same score to Japan is 15/2. A goalless game is priced at 13/2 and will also trigger the generous Blue Square ‘0-0 cashback’. Japan’s win over Denmark was their first at a World Cup that wasn’t played on their home soil. Paraguay have the more experienced players and compete against bigger teams from their own confederation plenty of times a season. That’s probably the factor making them favourites for this as well as a higher FIFA ranking – 14 places above their Asian opponents here