Jules Nagelsmann’s Germany, which had started the World Cup with an impressive 7-1 defeat of Curaçao, saw their World Cup dreams end in a penalty shootout against Paraguay. Many questions will be asked of whether the German manager should continue to lead the effort to return the Deutschland to World Cup glory.
The Germans dominated the ball in the first half with 79% possession but had little to show from it as they produced no shots on target (compared to two for Paraguay) or big chances in the first 45
minutes. Paraguay opened the scoring in the 42nd minute as River Plate midfielder Matías Galarza crossed the ball, finding Strasbourg’s Julio Enciso near the penalty spot, Enciso clinically heading the ball into the back of the net to give the South American side a surprising lead going into the half.
Germany’s first shot of the 2nd half arrived in the 54th minute via an excellent cross from Florian Wirtz who found Kai Havertz inside the box, the Arsenal centre-forward glancing the ball with his head and past Paraguayan keeper Orlando Gill to draw the Germans level. It was one of 55 crosses the Germans attempted on the day, Wirtz’s being 1 of only 10 that successfully found a teammate.
The Germans thought they had taken the lead in extra-time through a Jonathan Tah header near the far post, but VAR correctly called down to Moroccan referee Jalal Jayed to review a possible foul by Waldemar Anton on the Paraguayan keeper and the goal was disallowed.
After 120 minutes with the match still tied 1-1, the penalty shoot-out began with Germany shooting first. Germany had only missed one penalty in a World Cup penalty shoot-out prior to today’s match. But Havertz and Newcastle’s Nick Woltemade had Germany’s 1st and 4th penalties saved by Gill, giving Paraguay a golden opportunity to win the shootout. However, forward Antonio Sanabria sent Paraguay’s 4th penalty wide of Manuel Neuer’s right post and the German keeper dived to his left to save centre-back Fabián Balbuena’s penalty, giving German fans new hope. That hope turned out to be short-lived as Tah sailed Germany’s 6th penalty well over the crossbar, before 29-year-old José Canale converted the most important penalty of his career to send the nation of 7 million into the round of 16.
Real Madrid’s Antonio Rüdiger played 110 minutes in what was likely the 33-year-old’s final World Cup match. The Real Madrid centre-back completed 114 of 123 passes (93%), including 22 passes into the final third, with only Joshua Kimmich and Tah completing more to that part of the pitch. Rüdiger added 9 ball recoveries and 6 clearances, including 5 headed clearances to lead the German team.
Paraguay next faces the winner of the France / Sweden match on Saturday, July 4th in Philadelphia.
