Germany's World Cup nightmare deepened Monday night in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where Paraguay ended a four-time champion's tournament run in the most dramatic fashion possible.
Paraguay eliminated Germany from the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a 4-3 penalty shootout victory after a 1-1 draw across 120 minutes in the Round of 32 at Gillette Stadium on June 29. According to Al Jazeera, the result stands as the greatest upset in World Cup knockout history, surpassing Bulgaria's quarterfinal defeat of Germany in 1994.
The ranking gap told the story bluntly: FIFA had Paraguay at 41st and Germany at 10th heading into the match, per Fox Sports.
Julio Enciso gave Paraguay the lead with a header in the 42nd minute, and Kai Havertz equalized for Germany in the 54th with a glancing header off a Florian Wirtz cross. Neither side could find a winner in extra time, in part because a Jonathan Tah header in the 102nd minute was ruled out after VAR found a foul by Waldemar Anton on Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill. Multiple analysts flagged the call as potentially incorrect.
In the shootout, Gill saved two German penalties. Havertz missed Germany's first attempt, Nick Woltemade the fourth, and Tah skied the sixth over the bar. José Canale scored the decisive sudden-death kick to end it. It was Germany's first-ever World Cup shootout loss; they had won all four previous spot-kick contests at the tournament.
The performance raised serious questions about the state of German football. Germany dominated possession in the first half, controlling 78% of the ball and completing 244 passes to Paraguay's 31 by the 35th minute, while registering zero shots on target in that period.
"If you cannot beat Paraguay over 120 minutes then you are deservedly eliminated," one post-match assessment per DW bluntly put it.
Havertz did not disagree. When asked if Germany had become a second-tier team, he replied, "Yes, it seems so for sure." Former coach Jurgen Klinsmann called the exit "an embarrassment," according to ESPN.
The defeat marks three consecutive World Cups in which Germany has exited at the first hurdle, following group-stage eliminations in 2018 and 2022. DW cited injuries to Serge Gnabry, Lennart Karl, and Nico Schlotterbeck, underwhelming performances from Kimmich, Wirtz, and Musiala, and a defense that conceded in every match of the tournament as key factors in the collapse.
Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer confirmed to ARD that the match was his last with the national team. Antonio Rudiger, Leon Goretzka, Leroy Sane, and Pascal Gross are also considered unlikely to return. Coach Julian Nagelsmann said after the match, "I'm not the type of person who runs away," though DW noted his contract makes dismissal a costly option for the German Football Association.
Paraguay, meanwhile, erupted in celebration. President Santiago Peña declared a national holiday. "I think the feeling we have is difficult to explain. I'm very proud of my teammates and of this group. Yesterday was a match in which we had to be Paraguay more than ever," a Paraguay player said after the final whistle.
Paraguay will face the winner of France vs. Sweden in the Round of 16 in Philadelphia on July 4.
