In the first minute of stoppage time, Chilavert deflected Milenko Acimovic’s close-range cross into his own net.

Paraguay, with one point from their two Group B games, still had a slim chance of qualifying for the second round and they had started the brighter.

Leading scorer Jose Cardozo glanced a header just wide from Francisco Arce’s deep free-kick after nine minutes.

Chilavert clearly felt he was missing out and he took the next Paraguay free-kick from well inside the Slovenia half, which went out for a corner.

Paraguay’s slim hopes became almost non-existent on 22 minutes when Carlos Paredes was dismissed for his second bookable offence after catching Acimovic in the face with his right elbow.

Chilavert came charging forward to direct another free-kick, this time 25 yards out from the centre of

goal, but his effort came off the head of Slovenia skipper Ales Ceh.

Slovenia, who had already been eliminated and were searching for their first World Cup win as a farewell present to departing coach Srecko Katanec, managed their first shot on target when Miran Pavlin’s curling effort was comfortably saved by Chilavert, now safely back in his goal.

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

Defender Carlos Gamarra joined the attack for one free-kick only for his header to ricochet off the head of Roque Santa Cruz and loop over the bar.

Slovenia were forced to make the first change five minutes before the interval when Mladen Rudonja replaced the injured Pavlin.

Still Paraguay pressed for that opening goal and Guido Alvarenga went close with a drive which Dabanovic pushed over for a corner.

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 three minutes later, Chilavert went from hero to zero when he diverted Acimovic’s close-range cross through his own legs and into the back of the net.