Paraguay Knocks Germany Out Of 2026 World Cup After Penalty Shootout

Germany has been eliminated from the 2026 FIFA World Cup after losing to Paraguay in a penalty shootout at Boston Stadium on Monday. Paraguay opened the scoring against Germany in the 42nd minute and went into the halftime break with the lead. Germany responded in the 54th minute on a header from Kai Havertz and the score stayed level through regulation and the 30 minutes of extra time after a goal from Jonathan Tah was disallowed for a foul after a VAR check. Germany was the favorite on paper going into the penalty shootout, with legendary goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in goal, but it was Paraguay that came out on top after misses from Havertz to open the shootout, Nick Woltemade oin the fourth attempt and Tah on the sixth and final attempt for Die Mannschaft. José Canale scored the winning penalty for Paraguay, giving Germany its first-ever loss in a penalty shootout and Paraguay its second-ever World Cup penalty shootout win in its second try. This marks the fourth-biggest upset in the knockout stage since FIFA rankings began in 1992. Paraguay is ranked 41st and Germany is ranked 10th, a 31-spot difference; only Russia vs. Spain (60 spots), South Korea vs. Italy (34 spots) and South Korea vs. Spain (32 spots) are higher. This is also the third consecutive men's World Cup that Germany has not advanced to the round of 16, last advancing in 2014, when it won the tournament. It was eliminated in the group stage in 2018 and 2022, and now fails to reach the round of 16 after losing its first knockout stage match. Paraguay will now move on to the round of 16 and play the winner of Paraguay vs. Sweden on Tuesday.