Paraguay kept its cool through a shootout and advanced to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time, beating Japan 5-3 on penalties Tuesday after a 0-0 draw.

Yuichi Komano hit the crossbar on the third penalty, while Paraguay substitute Oscar Cardozo walked up casually and scored the winning kick, faking out the goalkeeper.

Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino said the team only practiced taking penalty kicks once.

"Nobody could say we weren't prepared," Martino said. "But our execution (in practice) wasn't too good.

"There is a lot of fear and tension during a match. It is difficult to go through a match like that with extra time and penalties. Everybody knows that this is unfair to have it decided by a penalty shootout, but that's the way it is."

Paraguay will face Spain in the quarterfinals after the European champions beat Portugal 1-0 in Tuesday's other second-round match.

Corner kicks: FIFA will look again at introducing video technology to assist referees after President Sepp Blatter apologized to England and Mexico for the officiating errors that helped eliminate them. … Uruguay's Jorge Larrionda and Italy's Roberto Rosetti, whose blunders prompted FIFA to rethink using video technology, have been left off the list of referees for the rest of the tournament. … Uruguay striker Diego Forlan took part in training as he recovers from a toe injury heading to the team's quarterfinal against Ghana. The striker was hurt against South Korea in the round of 16.AP