SALONIKA, Greece, Aug 24 (AFP) - Iraq's fairytale run in the Olympic football tournament ground to a shuddering halt in the shape of a 3-1 semi-final defeat to Paraguay.
The Iraqis, who overcame the ravages of war to qualify for the Olympics, had ripped up the form-book to reach the last four with victories over Portugal and Australia along the way.
But their dreams of a place in the final against mighty Argentina on Sunday were snuffed out by Paraguay, who cruised to victory and advanced thanks to goals from Jose Cardozo (2) and Fredy Bareiro.
Iraq scored a late consolation through Razzaq Farhan but the result was never in doubt.
Paraguay had dominated in the first half, subduing the less experienced Iraqis to control midfield thanks to tireless work from Edgar Barreto and Julio Cesar Encisco.
And up front the South Americans caused all manner of problems for the Iraqi defence, the lively Cardozo pulling his markers out of position with consummate ease and scoring twice in the first-half.
Cardozo opened the scoring on 17 minutes, latching on to a through ball and shrugging off the attentions of centre-half Haidar Jabar to drill a low shot past Iraq goalkeeper Nour Sabri.
Cardozo added his second just after the half-hour with a controversial effort that had Iraq's players protesting vainly.
Cardozo nudged the ball through a static Iraqi back four who had hesitated after seeing Fredy Bareiro standings yards behind them a clearly offside position.
But there was no flag as Bareiro was adjudged not to be interfering with play, allowing Cardozo to glide through and roll home his finish past the keeper to put Paraguay 2-0 up at half-time.
Paraguay controlled the second half easily although Iraq had chances to get themselves back in the game midway through the half.
Salih Sadir saw a curling shot drift over by inches and Mahdi Karim missed a free header from six yards out.
Paraguay made the Iraqis pay for their wastefulness and on 68 minutes made the game safe. Cardozo's shot was saved brilliantly by Sabri, who tipped onto the post.
The Iraq keeper could do nothing though to stop Bareiro hammering the rebound into the roof of the net for 3-0.
Razzaq's late goal -- thumped past Paraguay keeper Diego Barreto from an angle on 83 minutes -- was only a consolation effort.