Germany’s World Cup journey ends, Paraguay’s historic victory creates sensation in the football world

Foxboro (Boston). Four-time world champion Germany’s FIFA World Cup 2026 journey ended in a sensational manner on Monday. Paraguay defeated Germany 4-3 in the penalty shootout after the match remained tied at 1-1 for 120 minutes and made it to the last-16 of the tournament. José Canale converted the decisive penalty to give Paraguay a historic victory.

This is considered to be Paraguay’s biggest victory in World Cup history. The team, which reached the quarter-finals in 2010, returned to the World Cup after a long gap and has now made it to the pre-quarterfinals. Now he will face the winning team of the match between France and Sweden.

Germany maintained possession of the ball right from the beginning of the match. Coach Julian Nagelsmann adopted an aggressive strategy and included Deniz Undav, who scored three goals and two assists in this World Cup, in the starting eleven for the first time. Germany applied continuous pressure in the first half, but could not put any shot on target.

Paraguay took advantage of this after the 35th minute. The team responded brilliantly with the return of Miguel Almiron and Julio Enciso scored with a powerful header to give Paraguay a 1–0 lead. It was also Paraguay’s first goal in the World Cup knockout stage.

Germany made a comeback in the second half. In the 54th minute, Kai Havertz made the score 1-1 with a header from Florian Wirtz’s accurate cross. After this, both the teams got many chances, but no one could take a decisive lead.

Germany scored in extra time in the 102nd minute with a header from Jonathan Tah, but it was ruled out for a foul on the goalkeeper after a lengthy VAR review.

The match was decided in penalty shootout. For Germany, Kai Havertz, Nick Woltemade and Jonathan Tah failed in their attempts. Paraguay also missed two penalties, but in the end José Canale converted the decisive penalty goal to give his team a historic victory.

short score
Paraguay 1 (4) – 1 (3) Germany (after penalty shootout)
Round: Julio Enciso (Paraguay), Kai Havertz (Germany)
Result: Paraguay won 4–3 in penalty shootout, advancing to last-16.