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Paraguay defender Denis Caniza denies his team are suffering a defensive crisis of confidence despite a host of errors during their World Cup campaign.

Cesare Maldini's side have twice taken the lead in their Group B matches, only to fall back to a 2-2 draw with South Africa and lose to Spain.

Against the Spanish, veteran goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert returned, but things just got worse - they took an early lead but finally lost 3-1.

However, Caniza insisted that the backline, which was widely heralded in France '98 and in qualifying, remains a force to be reckoned with.

"I don't think we have big defensive troubles," he said.

"In the first match we were more offensive but they stayed on level terms.

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

"In 1998 our strong point was the defence. Now we have a more balanced team, but we had bad luck."

In 1998, Paraguay's defence was arguably one of the best in the tournament.

They conceded only one goal during the first round and they resisted the hosts in the second for 118 minutes, until falling to Laurent Blanc's golden goal.

Now, with much the same personnel, they have leaked five goals in their first two games.

Veteran defender Francisco Javier Arce said: "Spain is a great team and deserved the victory, but we have to acknowledge that we helped them.

"We made a lot of mistakes."

South Africa's victory over Slovenia has left Paraguay close to elimination.

Only a victory against Slovenia on Thursday and defeat for South Africa against the already-qualified Spanish would give Paraguay any hope of progress.