Amid the questions surrounding it after its group stage-opening 4-1 loss to the United States on June 12 — and before its World Cup Round of 32 match against Germany in Foxborough — Miguel Almirón and Paraguay provided a resounding answer.
La Albirroja pulled off one of the most remarkable feats in the history of its program on Monday, playing the four-time champions to a 1-1 draw before winning the resulting penalty shootout 4-3. The headlines will focus on Jonathan Tah’s disallowed winner in extra time — VAR ruled Waldemar Anton had fouled Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill in the process. They’ll focus on how Gill stopped Kai Havertz and Nick Woltemade’s kicks from the spot. They’ll focus on Antonio Sanabria’s miss and Manuel Neuer’s save on Fabián Balbuena, which kept Germany in it. And they’ll focus on Tah’s miss in sudden death to set up Jose Canalé’s winning penalty.
The main headline, though, is this: Mighty Germany is out. Paraguay is moving on.
“Today was a match where we had to be Paraguay more than ever,” captain Gustavo Gómez said, per Trece. “I think Germany knew that if they wanted to beat us, they were going to have to work hard, because we were going to make them pay dearly for the defeat. I dedicate this to all the people of Paraguay.”
Almirón’s contributions, in particular, can’t be overlooked. He helped set up Julio Enciso’s opener moments before halftime, using a nifty move to shake free of Germany left back Nathaniel Brown and create time to reward the run of Matías Galarza to his right. Neuer, playing in his final World Cup, could do nothing about Enciso’s header on Galarza’s cross that put Paraguay in command. After a disappointing group stage, it was the moment Almirón needed to turn his personal fortunes around.
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And though Havertz had his say in the 54th minute to pull things level, Paraguay kept Die Mannschaft at arm’s length. It looked as if the dream would end in extra time as Tah’s header appeared to put Germany in front before VAR overturned the goal. But with the draw secured, the stage was set for Gill and Canalé’s heroics.
Paraguay moves on to face either France or Sweden on July 4 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. It will be far from the most consequential event in the city that day. It’ll be an underdog regardless of who it faces, even more so if it’s a France team that won the whole thing in 2018 and nearly did it again in 2022. Surely, Gustavo Alfaro’s group couldn’t get to the quarterfinals, right?
But as we learned on a Monday afternoon in Foxborough, anything can happen.
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Happy for Miggy. I’d be really happy for us if another club saw value in bringing him on.
On one hand, I feel like Germany got cheated by that VAR call a bit. I think it would’ve been fine to call as a foul, but feels a little soft to be overturned by VAR. On the other hand, the only goal Germany did have was such a fluke, that I feel like it balances out.
Paraguay’s keeper was standing on his head.
He was damn good, I had a feeling he was gonna stop that 1st PK. Commentator said that they are taking a closer look at goalie “interference” or invading space. It was a bit of a basketball pick for sure although he did go down easy and got up too late to stop the shot. I have mixed feelings, need to see that replay again.
Bring Galarza back. Dude was an animal once again.
supposedly there is ongoing negotiation, but I would assume we are going to have to open up a DP spot to bring him back.
If the chance LL is gone, i’m not sure we replace him with a DP box to box midfielder, even if Galarza’s that good. Guessing there would have to be some interesting gam/tam/dam money deal should we figure out a way to keep him.
The pass from miggy followed by the cross from galarza was a fantastic set up
Sad to see Germany out (although I’d say they didn’t look like they earned it), but happy for Miggy and I hope he comes back on fire. We need the best version of him if we hope to salvage anything this year.