Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n
The outcome may well be the greatest upset in World Cup history, given it came in the group stage.<\/p>\n
Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at what the result means to the two countries.<\/p>\n
Is this Paraguay\u2019s greatest upset at a World Cup?<\/p>\n
At the World Cup in 1998, Paraguay were clinging to a 0-0 draw in a last-16 meeting with hosts France in the hope of some penalty shootout magic from goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert, but a 114th-minute golden goal by Laurent Blanc dashed that strategy.<\/p>\n
Twenty-eight years later, Paraguay pulled off what the Chilavert generation could not.<\/p>\n
Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill saved the efforts of Kai Havertz and Nick Woltemade before Jonathan Tah fired over the bar, and the way was paved for Jose Canale to blast home the decisive spot kick.<\/p>\n
It was the first time Germany had lost a penalty shootout at the World Cup.<\/p>\n
![\"Soccer](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/reuters_6a4328e0-1782786272.jpg\")
Germany\u2019s Jamal Musiala, with teammates, looks dejected after the match as they are eliminated from the World Cup on June 29, 2026 [Pilar Olivares\/Reuters]History of heroics from Paraguay\u2019s Gill<\/p>\n
Gill has some history of his own as a penalty stopper. He saved two for his club side, San Lorenzo, in a shootout against River Plate in an Apertura match in Argentina in May, although San Lorenzo eventually lost.<\/p>\n
Last year, in a quarterfinal against Argentinos Juniors, he pulled off the decisive save in another shootout.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to describe in words,\u201d Gill said on Monday after helping the 5-to-1 underdogs advance to the round of 16. \u201cIt was a very challenging game. We were under attack from all sides, but we resisted.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt showed that you shouldn\u2019t speak too soon,\u201d he said as he left the pitch while some of his teammates sobbed with joy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis proves that Paraguay is capable of achieving great things. The opportunity was bound to come sooner or later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about his two saves in the shootout, he said: \u201cWe had to analyse every player, every detail.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, with a cool head, I\u2019m going to sit down and analyse what we\u2019ve achieved. We managed to hold on until the 120th minute, and luck was on our side during the shootout.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gill\u2019s next match will be on Saturday in Philadelphia against France or Sweden.<\/p>\n
![\"Paraguay's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/afp_6a4329276275-1782786343.jpg\")
Paraguay\u2019s goalkeeper Orlando Gill celebrates after winning the penalty shootout of the 2026 World Cup round-of-32 match between Germany and Paraguay at Boston Stadium in Foxborough on June 29, 2026 [AFP]Paraguay coach Alfaro shows faith in his defenders<\/p>\n
As well as Gill\u2019s heroics, Paraguay\u2019s unlikely victory was founded on coach Gustavo Alfaro\u2019s unshakeable faith in his defenders.<\/p>\n
Criticised for his tactics in the group phase, when Paraguay lost their opening game 4-1<\/a> to cohosts the United States and scored only two goals over the three games, Alfaro doubled down on his bet on his backline against Germany.<\/p>\n \u201cToday was a match in which we had to be Paraguay more than ever,\u201d captain Gustavo Gomez said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think deep down, Germany knew that if they wanted to beat us, they would have to sweat blood, because we were going to make defeat very, very costly for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Paraguay\u2019s spirit carries them to last 16 at World Cup<\/p>\n That spirit was on show in a 1-0 group phase win over Turkiye<\/a>, when Paraguay were reduced to 10 men just before half-time and their opponents had 32 attempts on goal.<\/p>\n On Monday, Germany had 75 percent possession and 21 shots against Paraguay\u2019s seven. But behind the numbers, Paraguay\u2019s performance represented a defensive masterclass.<\/p>\n Paraguay always one step ahead of Germany<\/p>\n The South Americans anticipated almost every move by Germany and limited them to very few moments of real danger, even without stalwart centre-half Omar Alderete, who was injured.<\/p>\n Almost completely against the run of play, Julio Enciso \u2013 Paraguay\u2019s most creative player so far \u2013 opened the scoring in the 42nd minute when he headed in a cross by Matias Galarza.<\/p>\n Havertz drew Germany level nine minutes into the second half with a glanced header from a Florian Wirtz cross.<\/p>\n The Europeans continued to struggle to pierce Paraguay\u2019s defence. They thought they had won the game in extra time when Tah headed in a corner, but the goal was ruled out after a VAR check for a foul on Gill.<\/p>\n Alfaro redeemed after Paraguay backlash<\/p>\n The win will be particularly sweet for 63-year-old coach Alfaro, whose critics in the media have included Chilavert himself, who demanded a more attacking style.<\/p>\n Now Alfaro will need to prepare his resolute defence for a likely round of 16 encounter with France \u2013 led by the free-scoring Kylian Mbappe<\/a> and Ousmane Dembele<\/a> \u2013 who are tipped to beat Sweden in their first knockout match on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Nagelsmann in hot water after yet another World Cup exit<\/p>\n By contrast, Alfaro\u2019s opposite number on Monday, Julian Nagelsmann, will probably struggle to keep his job after Germany suffered their third consecutive humiliating World Cup exit.<\/p>\n Nagelsmann complained about the decision to rule out Tah\u2019s effort in extra time and said he wanted to carry on in the job.<\/p>\n \u201cYou talk about expectations: It is 11 or 12 years, and we have come up short,\u201d the 38-year-old said. \u201cIt\u2019s not enough for German football.\u201d<\/p>\n Nagelsmann has a contract up to the 2028 European Championships, but Germany\u2019s premature exit from the World Cup will put the 38-year-old under intense scrutiny.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not someone who runs away,\u201d he told German broadcaster ZDF.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to continue, but in football, you don\u2019t always have it in your own hands.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the DFB [German Football Association] wants me to, then I will prepare for the European Championship and the Nations League.\u201d<\/p>\n Midfielder Nadiem Amiri said Germany still have a bright future, but conceded that the pain of defeat makes it hard to look too far ahead.<\/p>\n Several of Germany\u2019s core players may not be around for the next World Cup in 2030, but Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz should be in their prime by then.<\/p>\n Highly-rated teenager Lennart Karl will also be back in the fold, having missed this tournament due to injury.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a lot of young players, a lot of quality in the squad,\u201d said Amiri, who came on deep into extra time and scored his penalty in the shootout.<\/p>\n \u201cBut at the moment, to think about the future is the wrong decision, and I feel for everybody. I\u2019m very sad, because it was a shocking end to the game. It\u2019s very difficult to find the right words.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At a World Cup of plucky performances and unlikely odds upended, Paraguay have produced a shock for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[151,149,5,152,42,3496,97,7856,150],"class_list":["post-45714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-germany","tag-europe","tag-football","tag-germany","tag-latin-america","tag-news","tag-paraguay","tag-sport","tag-us-canada","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}