FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Paraguay stunned four-time world champions Germany 4-3 on penalties on Monday to advance to the World Cup round of 16 in one of the biggest upsets in the competition’s history, after the teams were tied 1-1 over 120 minutes.
Jose Canale hit the decisive penalty to give the underdogs a memorable victory and spark wild celebrations, as they advanced to the next round where they will face either title contenders France or Sweden in the last 16.
The Germans saw Kai Havertz, Nick Woltemade and Jonathan Tah fail to score from the spot before Canale, after two misses by the South Americans, kept his composure to seal their win.
For the Germans, who had a Tah header disallowed in extra time, it was a bitter defeat and the first time they lost a penalty shootout at a World Cup.
It was the biggest win at the tournament for the South Americans, who reached the quarter-finals in 2010 and had not qualified since, while Germany’s international reputation is now in tatters after consecutive World Cup group-stage exits in 2018 and 2022.
“I think the feeling we have is difficult to explain,” a beaming Paraguay captain Gustavo Gomez said. “I’m very proud of my teammates and of this group. Today was a match in which we had to be Paraguay more than ever.”
“I 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 expensive for them,” he said.
Germany’s Julian Nagelsmann, who at the age of 38 became the youngest coach in a World Cup knockout stage in 40 years, will now be under massive pressure once he returns home after yet another World Cup debacle.
“I am disappointed. It was just not enough to beat this opponent,” said Nagelsmann, who had publicly set Germany the goal of winning a fifth World Cup. “The opponent scored once and we did not defend very well. We lost control of possession. We tried a lot of things but we should have scored earlier.”
“If you are eliminated by Paraguay you are just not a first-class football team. I am very disappointed.”
Attacking start
Nagelsmann opted for an offensive lineup, giving his team’s top scorer in the tournament, Deniz Undav, his first start.
The forward, who had three goals and two assists in the group stage, threatened early on with a curled shot as the Germans controlled possession as expected, and had their opponents pinned in their own half.
While spending most of the time without the ball, Paraguay were content to soak up the pressure and do the hard defensive work as Germany plodded every possible route to their opponents’ goal but had no single effort on target in the entire first half.
By the 35th minute Germany, desperate to advance deep in the tournament, had completed 244 passes to Paraguay’s 31 but had not managed to come any closer to breaking the deadlock.
Executing their game plan to perfection, the South Americans, with Miguel Almiron back in the side after his suspension, stunned the favorites with a quick move down the right before Enciso powered home his header to score his country’s first-ever goal in the knockout stage of a World Cup.
The small pockets of Paraguay fans, completely outnumbered by the white-clad Germany supporters, exploded with joy, pounding their drums as silence fell across large swathes of the stands.
Frustration was visible among the Germany players as their dominance proved unprecedented - no team had ever completed 253 more passes than their opponents in a World Cup first half and still gone in behind at halftime.
Germany equaliser
They hit back nine minutes after the restart with Florian Wirtz floating a cross into the box and Havertz leveling with a glancing header.
Wirtz delivered an almost identical cross in the 78th minute but Havertz’s header was blocked by keeper Orlando Gill as the game spilled over into extra time.
The Germans thought they had snatched a winner in the 102nd minute when defender Jonathan Tah headed in a corner at the far post but after a lengthy VAR review the goal was disallowed for a foul on the keeper.
Writing by Karolos GrohmannEditing by Toby Davis
