The impossible happens: Paraguay knock Germany out on penalties in a shootout for the ages

Paraguay stunned four-time champions Germany, drawing 1-1 and winning 4-3 on penalties to reach the Round of 16. Julio Enciso headed Paraguay ahead, Kai Havertz levelled, and a chaotic shootout, in which Germany missed three, ended their flawless World Cup penalty record. Orlando Gill was the hero; José Canale scored the winner.

They will be talking about this one in Asunción for a hundred years. Paraguay knocked Germany out of the World Cup, holding the four-time champions to a 1-1 draw and then winning a chaotic penalty shootout 4-3, one of the biggest upsets the tournament has ever seen. The Albirroja are in the Round of 16; the Germans are going home.

Paraguay had the temerity to lead. On forty-two minutes Julio Enciso met a Matías Galarza cross and powered a header past Manuel Neuer. Germany, dominant on the ball, hit back nine minutes into the second half through Kai Havertz, who finished a clever Florian Wirtz pass. From there Germany laid siege, but they could not find a way through.

They thought they had. Late on, Jonathan Tah headed home from a corner and the German bench erupted, only for VAR to rule it out for a foul on goalkeeper Orlando Gill. Extra time came and went goalless, Germany bombarding a heroic Paraguayan rearguard. It went to penalties, and history.

For nearly half a century the rule of international football was simple: never take Germany to a shootout. They had a flawless 4-0 record in World Cup shootouts, having missed just one penalty in their history. Against Paraguay they missed three. Gill, the hero, saved from Havertz and Nick Woltemade, Tah missed, and although Paraguay wobbled, Antonio Sanabria missing and Neuer denying Fabián Balbuena, it was José Canale who smashed the decisive kick into the top corner to seal it.

The numbers make it all the more astonishing. Germany had seventy-five percent of the ball, twenty-one shots to seven and sixteen corners, and still lost. It is a statistical smash-and-grab of the highest order, and it deepens a German crisis that has now seen them fail to win a World Cup knockout match since they lifted the trophy in 2014.

Paraguay, under Gustavo Alfaro, march on to a Round of 16 date with Canada. Nobody gave them a chance after the group, and nobody will underestimate them now. For Julian Nagelsmann's Germany, the inquest begins.

For Kenya, this was the kind of night that makes the World Cup magic. Neutrals love a giant falling, and Paraguay's defiance had Nairobi roaring them on through every one of those penalties. Wajerumani wametolewa na penalty, dunia nzima imeshtuka: Germany have been knocked out on penalties, and the whole world is stunned. As the knockouts heat up, the drama is off the scale. Our Europe verdict had wondered about this Germany, while our South America verdict never wrote Paraguay off.