“No, please, stop with this nonsense,” snapped Julian Nagelsmann. Germany had just lost 2-1 to Ecuador in their final group game and the television interviewer was suggesting that with Germany already qualified, perhaps the Ecuadoreans had simply wanted it more. “They didn’t want it more,” Nagelsmann bristled. “I cannot tell any of my players that they didn’t give it their all. That’s far too simplistic.”
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In other news
It’s natural to focus on Germany, who have lost a penalty competition at a World Cup for the first time, but Paraguay’s gameplan was immaculate. This is one of the greatest moments in their history.
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Jose Canale defended with admirable determination throughout, and then strolled forward to take the winning penalty. He’ll sleep well tonight.
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PARAGUAY BEAT GERMANY ON PENALTIES!
Germany 1-1 Paraguay (3-4 pens) Jose Canale lifts the winning kick into the net!
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Tah misses! Germany 3-3 Paraguay.
He’s JaapStammed it over the bar!
It’s sudden death…
NEUER SAVES FROM BALBUENA! Germany 3-3 Paraguay.
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Amiri scores! Germany 3-3 Paraguay
It’s all on Fabian Balbuena.
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Sanabria misses! Germany 2-3 Paraguay
He’s whipped it wide, and haven’t we all!
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Gill saves from Woltemade! Germany 2-3 Paraguay
Paraguay are one penalty away!
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Galarza scores! Germany 2-3 Paraguay
Musiala scores! Germany 2-2 Paraguay
Excellent penalty because the keeper went the right way.
Gomez scores! Germany 1-2 Paraguay
Kimmich scores! Germany 1-1 Paraguay
Mauricio scores! Germany 0-1 Paraguay
Gill saves Havertz’s penalty!
Germany 0-0 Paraguay
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Germany will take the first penalty
Full time: Germany 1-1 Paraguay
For the first time since 2006, Germany are in a penalty competition at a men’s World Cup.
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120+2 min Junior Alonso gives way to West Ham legend Fabian Balbuena.
120 min Two minutes of added time. Germany have a free-kick 22 yards out to the right; Amiri whips it wide.
119 min: Chance for Germany!
Brown’s inswinging corner is met by Anton, whose close-range header is held on the line by Gill!
Either side and that might have been in.
115 min Musiala is booked for a petulant sliding challenge on Galarza. “That could easily be a red card,” says Alan Shearer on the BBC.
112 min “Orlando Gill really has something of the Chilavert about him, both in his command of the box and his distribution,” says Kári Tulinius. “Though if Anton had tried to pull something like that on Chilavert, the German would’ve been the one on the floor. But he’ll have to start taking free kicks before he’s nicknamed Gillavert.”
What about Gilla Band? Tony Gill?
110 min: Germany substitutions Malick Thiaw and Nadiem Amiri replace Wirtz and Rudiger.
110 min Brown surges into the area and is excellently challenged by Caballero. Paraguay have given everything they have, and what was left after that too.
108 min “I’m as philosophically anti-VAR as they come,” writes Brad McMillan. “However, this is one of those games where I’ll feel robbed if we don’t get penalties, as reward for sitting through 120-plus minutes of, well, you’ve described it well enough already.”
I really haven’t, mainly because of the bit in the style guide about swearing.
106 min The second half of extra time is under way.
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Half time in extra time: Germany 1-1 Paraguay
We’ll hear plenty about that decision if Germany do one in the next half an hour. Germany also took the lead just before the break when Havertz’s looping header was clawed away from Woltemade by the keeper Gill.
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NO GOAL! Germany 1-1 Paraguay
105 min The UK TV consensus is that it’s a soft decision for a foul on Gill by Anton, but the goal has been ruled out.
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104 min: VAR check! Hang on, it might be disallowed – they’re checking the block by Anton.
Germany won a corner on the right, swung very deep by Brown. The keeper was blocked by Anton, presumably legally, and Tah powered a storming header back across goal and into the net.
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GOAL! Germany 2-1 Paraguay (Tah 102)
What a header!
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100 min Tah heads wide at the far post, a very tough chance under pressure.
99 min: Paraguay substitution It’s been cleared by VAR and Paraguay have brought on Antonio Sanabria and Braian Ojeda for Caceres and Bobadilla.
98 min Play has yet to resume so I guess there’s an ongoing VAR check.
97 min An inswinging cross from the left is controlled expertly on the chest by Woltemade, whose shot hits the flying Gomez. Did that hit his arm?
93 min Woltemade and Kimmich have shots blocked in the space of about two seconds.
91 min Paraguay have replaced Miguel Almiron with another defender, Gustavo Velazquez.
Full time: Germany 1-1 Paraguay
This festival of football is heading to extra-time!
90+2 min Brown’s very deep corner is headed towards goal by Tah and held comfortably by Gill. And why not?
Five minutes of added time by the way.
90+1 min After some neat German interplay, Kimmich pings a long-range shot that deflects behind for a corner.
90 min “Do you get paid more if it goes to extra time?” asks Mac Millings. “If so, I’m channelling Morrissey and hoping for a late winner.”
More?
88 min: Germany substitution Nick Woltemade replaces Leroy Sane, a like-for-like substitution.
86 min Wirtz’s outswinging corner from the right leads to a mini-scramble before a flag goes up for offside.
82 min Nothing much is happening. The whole game has followed the same pattern: attack and defence, invasion and repulsion. Paraguay know what they are doing and could yet nick this.
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79 min: Germany substitution Waldemar Anton replaces Aleksandar Pavlovic.
78 min: Good save by Gill!
Another fine cross from Wirtz on the left, this time with his left foot and therefore swinging away from goal, is headed powerfully towards goal by Havertz. It’s a bit too straight and Gill dives to his left and pishes it away.
77 min Caballero runs through on goal, farts around inexplicably and is challenged. No matter: he was offside.
74 min A cross from Sane flashes off the head of Canale and goes straight into the hands of Gill.
It’s all Germany, as it has been throughout. The scoreline begs to differ.
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73 min Back under way.
70 min Time for the ad break.
68 min A reminder that the winners will play France or Sweden in the last 16.
66 min Cubas fouls Havertz 25 yards from goal and is booked. Sane slaps the free-kick into the wall.
63 min: Germany substitution Jamal Musiala replaces Deniz Undav.
62 min There’s one-way traffic in Boston. A second Germany goal feels inevitable, but then so did a first Germany goal when it was 0-0. Nobody knows anything.
61 min “It’s a good Germany kit, innit?” says James Humphries. “Doesn’t look out of place, but it also looks right for the correct era of Germany kits, ie when i was watching my first World Cup on the telly.
“… Christ, remember that tiny period when the hole in the ozone layer was the big existential worry?”
Never judge a kit until it’s been worn against Paraguay in the last 32.
58 min: Paraguay substitution A blow for Paraguay: the goalscorer Julio Enciso is injured and has been replaced by Mauricio.
56 min Pavlovic runs onto a clearance and sweeps a shot from the edge of the area that is superbly blocked by Canale.
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55 min: Paraguay substitution Gustavo Caballero replaces Gabriel Avalos.
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Wirtz whacked a flat, curling cross from the left towards the penalty spot. Havertz got across Canale, permitted the ball to brush his head and steered it into the far corner. That’s such a good header from a violently underrated finisher.
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GOAL! Germany 1-1 Paraguay (Havertz 54)
Germany equalise through a brilliant header from Kai Havertz!
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53 min Wirtz is caught late and rolls around in pain. Play continues and bugger all happens.
Long way to go, but right now Paraguay are comfortable.
50 min: Chance for Paraguay!
A long free-kick from the keeper Gill eventually leads to an underhit backpass from Kimmich. Enciso reads it and has a shot well blocked by the outrushing Neuer.
49 min Germany are crossing the ball a lot more since the break, but there’s no sign yet of Horst Hrubesch coming on.
46 min Germany get the second half under way, having brought on Leon Goretzka for Florian Nmecha.
“I feel slightly ashamed to say I’m enjoying this rearguard from Paraguay,” writes Rob K. “Very much in the spirit of Chilavert and co in 1998 – especially Carlos Gamarra, who was frequently labelled as one of the great defenders in the world during his time, but had an odd, almost journeyman career.”
Ya boy CG was a brilliant player. (Admittedly I’m basing this on the 1998 World Cup and a lot of Championship Manager Nights.)
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Half-time reading
Half time: Germany 0-1 Paraguay
Attack 0-1 Defence. Paraguay have defended admirably, had 21% possession and nicked the lead through a fine header from Julio Enciso.
45+4 min The resulting corner eventually leads to a rising close-range shot from Kimmich that is held by Gill. Tough chance because a) the angle was tight and b) there are no exclamation marks in this entry so read the room.
45+2 min Wirtz plays a short pass from the right into Nmecha, whose cross-shot takes a deflection and spins a few yards wide of the far post.
45 min Five added minutes.
44 min “The commentators are banging on about that goal coming ‘against the run of play’,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “Against the run of Paraguayan footballing history and ambition, more like.”
43 min That was a fine finish from Enciso, who arrived late and slammed his header into the ground. It kicked up towards the far corner and beat Neuer, who barely moved.
Almiron’s corner was punched away by Neuer, but Paraguay regained possession and the ball was shifted back out to Almiron on the right. He reversed a cute pass to Galarza, whose flat cross was headed in superbly from 12 yards by Julio Enciso!
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GOAL! Germany 0-1 Paraguay (Enciso 42)
Paraguay take the lead with their first attack in years!
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41 min “This is not so much two bald man fighting over a comb,” begins Paul Griffin, “as two bald men completely unable to express themselves over their desire to own the comb.”
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40 min Wirtz drills a flat cross that is headed away by Canale. This makes the aforementioned 2002 game look like an orgy of excitement by comparison.
37 min Whatever you think of Paraguay’s tactics – no judgement here, trolls – they are practising them superbly. Germany have had 81% possession without really threatening to score.
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36 min “Speaking of Mario Gotze, the 2014 final and scenarios that could or could not be foreseen, was there ever a clearer sense of inevitability than when he got subbed on?” says Phil Podolsky. “I watched that game in a pub packed with Argentina supporters and quite a few said ‘oh he’s gonna score’ when he came on.”
I’m not qualified to comment, having one uttered the same words when Gilles Grimandi came on against Man Utd.
35 min Germany have completed 239 passes, Paraguay 31.
33 min Paraguay don’t seem entirely arsed about scoring their first goal in six World Cup knockout games. If it comes, sure, but I suspect they would take a penalty competition right now.
That’s an observation rather than a judgement. They’re defending extremely well.
31 min “Does Julian Nagelsmann have a secret supplier for ill-fitting T-shirts?” writes Ted Graves. “How is it that one of the youngest coaches in the tournament makes fossils like Divk Advocaat look stylish?”
What’s wrong with tight-fitting T-shirts on relatively young men? Did we learn nothing from The Big Lebowski?
29 min The Paraguay keeper Orlando Gill goes for a peculiar wander but is reprieved by an offside flag.
27 min Back under way. It’s been a non-event thus far, but we live in hope!
26 min “Oh,” writes Beau Dure, “you think Y-M-C-A with player participation is bad?”
24 min Time for the ad break.
20 min On the UK TV coverage, Alan Shearer criticises Germany for playing too slowly. It’s a fair point – he knows a fair bit about football - but it’s also worth stressing how well Paraguay have defended thus far.
16 min Paraguay were hammered by the US in their opening game but they are generally strong defensively – they conceded 10 goals in 18 qualification games – so this was never going to be easy for Germany. They’re probing relentlessly, thus far without much joy.
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13 min Germany are starting to control possession. But they may have an injury problem because Nick Woltemade seems to getting ready to come on.
11 min “I’m now trying to unsee and unhear that Village People clip and a very awkward-looking 1994 Germany squad,” says Peter Oh. “On the bright side, if the South Americans score I’ll be sure to break out a chorus of ‘Paraguay-M-C-A!!!’”
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8 min The ensuing corner is headed away as far as Wirtz, who sprays over the bar from 22 yards.
7 min Wirtz cuts inside from the left and cracks a cross intended for Havertz, who is poised to score until the stretching Canale makes a vital interception.
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6 min A loose ball in the Paraguay area is touched off by Havertz to Undav, whose floats a chip across goal and wide.
5 min Gustavo Gomez needs treatment after an awkward fall. He’s limping a bit but looks okay.
2 min: Chance for Paraguay The corner reaches the unmarked Julio Alonso at the far post. His first touch is awkward – I think he saw the ball late – but he gets a scissor-kick away that is batted clear by Neuer.
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1 min Peep peep! Paraguay kick off from left to right, as we watch, and and within 20 seconds Julio Enciso has a hopeful shot deflected behind for a corner.
“Hiya Rob,” writes James Humphries. “Unclear to me whether this is, in reportage terms, after or before the lord mayor’s show; still, who’d you annoy to get landed with this? (Probably don’t answer that.) C’mon... Paraguay, I guess? Jeezo, difficult to shake a leg for this one.”
Oh, I was happy for Tim to have first pick. Mainly because I owe my career to him, but also because it meant I could watch Richard Osman’s House of Games.
The players walk out on a searing afternoon at Boston Stadium. Thank goodness for those humane hydration breaks.
Tonight’s winners will face France or Sweden, who meet tomorrow
Match report: Brazil 2-1 Japan
Not for the first time in this tournament, there were long periods when Brazil did not impress. And not for the first time in this tournament, they got away with it. It may be inexplicable but the Carlo Ancelotti method that worked at Real Madrid is working again: stay in games and eventually either opponents will make a mistake or brilliant players will do something brilliant.
Brazil were 1-0 down at half-time and struggling. Their earliest ever exit form a World Cup seemed entirely possible. Five players in the Brazil starting lineup were aged over 30, five of the six most defensive players – and they looked it. Japan were quicker, slicker, sharper and more imaginative. But the introduction of Endrick and a change of shape and approach at half-time changed everything. Brazil started slinging crosses into the box and Japan wobbled. Casemiro, barely a pedestrian in the first half, headed the equaliser and, deep into injury time, Gabriel Martinelli squeezed in the winner.
“Good evening Rob,” says Krishnamoorthy V. “What is better for Germany? Lose today and blame the officials or the pitch /VAR. or prevail today and get marauded by a tank with a Rolls Royce engine aka Mbappe as reward?”
I think they have a third option in mind.
“Anyone who was around in 2002 will remember that year’s Germany-Paraguay as probably the worst match of that tournament,” says Peter Goldstein. “I think this one will be better, if only because Germany have more good attackers at their disposal this time. But I’ll be very surprised if Paraguay add much to the match excitement-wise.”
In fairness, the winning goal was a beauty, and not only because it saved us all from extra-time.
“I’m extremely disappointed,” begins Kiera Healy, and for once that overused phrase is justified, “that we’ve had four Germany games without mentioning Die Mannschaft’s finest moment from the last World Cup on US soil.
“The tradition of forcing players into awkward backing vocals on cheesy songs really needs to be resurrected.”
They looked a lot more comfortable singing Three Lions after winning Euro 96.
Ian Sargeant writes in
Greetings from Turkey Rob. Just chilling over some post-dinner cocktails. My 25% German son is resplendent in his Germany shirt making his much missed grandmother proud I’m sure. Paraguay 1986? Alvin Martin’s only start in that campaign. Had he played the following game in stead of Terry Fenwick, would Stretch have got close enough to Maradona to stop Diego’s second? Trying to stop Alan Devonshire in club training every day would have been helpful...
I love the Royal Tenenbaumsish description of your son. (Please take that in the spirit in which it was intended.)
And no, Stretch wouldn’t have got any closer – but he might not have been on a yellow card for gratutious violence, which would have given him the option of taking Maradona out and stopping the second goal.
There’s a tragic backdrop to today’s game: six people have been killed at a youth welfare facility in Stade, Germany. Beyond the sympathy that shouldn’t need to be expressed, it’s hard to know what else to say.
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Team news
Deniz Undav, who has scored three goals at this World Cup via the Chloe Kelly Paradox, starts up front for the first time. Jamal Musiala drops out, so Kai Havertz will probably play as a No10.
Miguel Almiron returns to the Paraguay side after his suspension, and Gabriel Avalos starts up front.
Germany (poss 4-2-3-1) Neuer; Kimmich, Tah, Rudiger, Brown; Pavlovic, Nmecha; Sane, Havertz, Wirtz; Undav.
Subs: Baumann, Nubel, Anton, Goretzka, Leweling, Musiala, Woltemade, Gross, Beier, Stiller, Amiri, Raum, Thiaw, Ouedraogo.
Paraguay (poss 4-5-1) Gill; Caceres, Gomez, Canale, Alonso; Almiron, Cubas, Bobadilla, Galarza; Avalos.
Subs: Fernandez, Olveira, Velazquez, Alderete, Balbuena, Sosa, Sanabria, Mauricio, Romero, Arce, Ojeda, Caballero, Pitta, Maidana.
Referee Jayal Jayed (Morocco)
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The Chloe Kelly Paradox is one of the features of this World Cup. Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli, one of the world’s best substitutes, has just scored an injury-time winner for Brazil against Japan.
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Paraguay haven’t scored a goal in five World Cup knockout games. Statistics never lie, but they can be economical with the truth and Paraguay have troubled some very good teams.
The eventual winners France needed the World Cup’s first Golden Goal to beat them in 1998; the finalists Germany needed a superb late winner from the unsung Oliver Neuville in 2002.
In 2010, after beating Japan on penalties following a 0-0 draw, they gave Spain a sizeable scare. Even in 1986, when they lost handsomely to good old England, they had chances to take the lead.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live, scene-by-scene coverage of 4369 Days Later. That’s how long it’s been since Germany’s last World Cup knockout game, a scenario none of us could have foreseen when Mario Gotze scored the winner against Argentina in the 2014 final.
Paraguay have waited even longer to return to this particular do-or-die saloon, but then they’re not Germany so it’s not as big a deal. They are semi-forgotten quarter-finalists from 2010, when they gave the eventual winners Spain an abundant scare before eventually losing 1-0. Oscar Cardozo had a second-half penalty saved when the score was 0-0.
Germany are strongish favourites today, but their 12-year absence from the knockout rounds tells us that the old certainties around Germany and the World Cup no longer apply. The reward for the winners is dubious: France or Sweden in the last 16.
Kick off 4.30pm EDT/9.30pm BST/6.30am AET
