June 30th 2026
By Joseph Armstrong-Gardner
Image Credit: Getty Images
Germany has officially lost their first shootout since the original Panenka one of 1976. While this comes as a major surprise for most, Germany did come up short to Ecuador in their match prior, losing 2-1, so Paraguay did have some confidence going into the match, taking nothing away from an incredible performance from Paraguay, of course.
It was just before half time, in the 42nd minute when Julio Enciso gave the underdogs Paraguay the lead, this power header from Enciso came seemingly out of nowhere with Manuel Neuer punching clear Miguel Almiron’s corner before the ball was recieved back to Almiron who played and intricate neat reverse pass into the run of Matias Galarza, sprinting up on the outside, His cross was hard, flat and whipped perfectly on the head of Enciso, who had far too much space granted by the German defenders. and with this space he was able to finish emphatically to spear head Paraguay into a scintillating lead.
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Germany equalised by the 54th minute with a header of their own delivered by Kai Havertz after Florian Wirtz had sneaked out to the left touchline, crept inside and curled a diagonal cross beautifully onto the head of Havertz, with Havertz delicately flicking the ball into the corner with his header.
With the score tied 1 all after 90 minutes and extra time, penalties began.
Havertz, despite being a goal scorer already, went on to miss his kick from the spot with a tame, telegraphed effort that was saved well.
After multiple, calmly executed penalties slotted away nicely by Paraguay, Germany started feeling like their time in the World Cup tournament this year was numbered, and that anxiety was bolstered when Woltemade produced another savable penalty kick.
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Antonio Sanabria and Fabian Balbuena went on to miss for Paraguay as Manuel Neuer started rolling back the years with some classy saves. However, Jonathan Tah skied his effort over the crossbar, and Jose Canale slotted home the final nail in the coffin to send Germany home packing.