Paraguay looked dead and buried when, already a man down after Carlos Paredes was sent off, Jose Luis Chilavert deflected the ball into his own net at the end of the first half.

But in the final 25 minutes substitutes Nelson Cuevas scored twice and Jorge Campos once to see the Paraguayans finish above South Africa on goals scored and so claim a place in the last 16.

Paraguay went close with a glancing header from Jose Cardozo before they suffering a serious blow midway through the first half when they were reduced to 10 men.

Paredes, who had been cautioned after just four minutes, caught Milenko Acimovic in the face with his right elbow to earn his second booking of the match and a red card.

Slovenia, who had already been eliminated, managed their first shot on target when Miran Pavlin’s curling effort was comfortably saved by Chilavert.

Despite being a man down, Paraguay continued to create the better chances and Francisco Arce’s right-foot thunderbolt almost knocked Mladen Dabanovic into his goal before the Slovenian goalkeeper recovered to save Cardozo’s diving header.

For all their pressure, Paraguay had Chilavert to thank for keeping the game goalless when he made a terrific one-handed save to deny Sebastjan Cimirotic.

However in the first minute of stoppage time, the extrovert Chilavert went from hero to zero when he scored an own goal.

Acimovic collected a throw-in on the right, went past Carlos Gamarra to reach the touchline from where he hit a right-foot cross which Chilavert deflected through his own legs and into the back of the net.

Chilavert went some way to making amends for his howler when he saved from Milan Osterc and then denied Mladen Rudonja after Julio Cesar Caceres had lost the ball in his own box.

These were worrying times for Paraguay and the impressive Acimovic shot against the crossbar with Chilavert completely beaten before the Strasbourg goalkeeper parried Cimirotic’s drive.

But then the game turned on its head in the 65th minute when Paraguay equalised through Cuevas, who had only been on the pitch for four minutes after replacing Cardozo.

The River Plate striker cut in from the right touchline and unleashed a left-foot shot which beat Dabanovic at his near post.

Slovenia were just centimetres away from regaining the lead when Osterc’s cross bounced off the top of the crossbar.

Then seconds later in the 73rd minute, Paraguay went in front when substitute Campos shot home left-footed into the bottom right corner from 25 yards out.

Chilavert went close to third when his free-kick from well over 30 yards out was touched on to the bar by Dabanovic.

The game shifted further towards Paraguay when Slovenian substitute Nastja Ceh was sent off for a high tackle on Denis Caniza.

With South Africa losing 3-2 to Spain, Paraguay needed just one more goal to claim the second qualifying spot and it came in the 84th minute when Cuevas ran along the edge of the Slovenian box before firing home left-footed off the underside of the bar.