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Paraguay defender Francisco Arce believes sloppy defending is the reason his side face elimination from the World Cup.

Only a minor miracle would give the South Americans a place in the last 16, after collecting just one point from their two matches.

South Africa's victory over Slovenia means Cesare Maldini's side need a three goal swing when they meet the Slovenians and the Africans' clash with Spain.

Not impossible, but difficult especially as the Spanish are likely to field a weakened team after clinching qualification.

If they do go out, Arce is under no illusions that it would be deserved.

They blew a 2-0 lead in their opening match against the Bafana Bafana's, and led 1-0 against Spain before collapsing to a 3-1 defeat.

Arce said: "Spain are a great team and deserved the victory, but we have to acknowledge that we helped them.

"We made a lot of mistakes defensively as a team."

Fellow defender Denis Caniza disagreed with his team-mate, and blamed a collective mentality for the results.

He said: "I don't think we have big defensive troubles at all.

"In the first match we were more offensive and they tied us.

"Then, against Spain we played the other way and we rightly lost.

"In the 1998 World Cup our strong point was the defence."

Caniza was part of the squad which reached the last 16 in France, conceding just one goal in the tournament.

"Now we have a more balanced team, but we had bad luck."