Paraguay sent four-time world champion Germany crashing out of the World Cup at "Boston Stadium" on Monday night, surviving a 1–1 draw before holding its nerve in a 4–3 penalty shootout. Julio Enciso’s first-half header put the South Americans in front, Kai Havertz dragged Germany level after the break, and a tense extra time produced no winner. In the end it was José Canale’s sudden-death penalty and a career-defining display from goalkeeper Orlando Gill that completed one of the tournament’s biggest upsets.
How the match unfolded
Paraguay struck first in the 42nd minute, when Julio Enciso met a teasing cross from Matías Galarza and powered a header past Manuel Neuer. Germany responded early in the second half, with Kai Havertz nodding in the equalizer to tilt the momentum back toward the favorites.
Deep in extra time, Germany thought it had escaped the upset. Jonathan Tah’s header beat Orlando Gill, only for VAR to intervene and rule out the goal for a foul by Waldemar Anton in the buildup. The drama set the stage for penalties after the match finished 1–1 through 120 minutes, according to The Associated Press.
Penalty drama that stunned a favorite
In the shootout, Orlando Gill turned into Paraguay’s unlikely superstar. He stopped Kai Havertz’s effort, then later denied Nick Woltemade, piling pressure on a German side long regarded as penalty specialists. José Canale then coolly buried the sudden-death kick to seal the tie.
Manuel Neuer had briefly kept Germany alive with a save from Fabián Balbuena, but Jonathan Tah then blazed his spot kick over the bar, handing Paraguay the opening it needed to finish the job, as Yahoo Sports reports. Reuters’ cameras were locked in on Woltemade’s miss and the chaos of the shootout, and Reuters later published the images from Foxborough.
Foxborough felt the shock
Thousands packed the temporarily renamed "Boston Stadium" for the first knockout game of the tournament at the venue, and they got far more drama than advertised. Paraguay’s supporters were outnumbered by German fans but easily heard over them, their red-and-white pocket of noise still singing long after the final whistle, according to Boston.com.
The stadium is Gillette Stadium, rebranded as Boston Stadium for the World Cup, and it marked its knockout-stage debut with a shock that will be talked about in New England for a while.
What comes next
Paraguay now heads to Philadelphia, where it will face the winner of France vs. Sweden in the round of 16 on July 4, according to The Associated Press. A victory there would at least match Paraguay’s best World Cup run, a quarterfinal appearance in 2010, and cap a landmark week for coach Gustavo Alfaro’s squad.
Germany, on the other hand, is left to pick through the wreckage of another painful exit, one that cuts even deeper given the country’s long-standing reputation for keeping cool from the spot.
Why it matters
The upset is already being billed as one of the all-time World Cup shockers and a reminder of how brutally fast knockout football can flip, as Al Jazeera notes. Paraguay’s disciplined defensive setup and Gill’s breakout performance have suddenly turned them into a dangerous dark horse lurking in the bracket.
For Germany, the early flight home will come with heavy scrutiny and familiar questions about a giant that keeps stumbling on the biggest stage.
