Source :- THE AGE NEWS
There has never been a denouement quite like it. Amid scenes of churning, back-and-forth, barely believable drama in a penalty shoot-out, Paraguay have bundled Germany out of the World Cup for surely the most glorious result in their nation’s history.
For the 2014 champions, there will be no fifth star to stitch on to the shirt, and for manager Julian Nagelsmann there might well be no future in his role at all as his team suffered the mortifying fate of being bundled out in their first World Cup knockout game for 12 years.
Masters of the Elfmeter (German for penalty)? Hardly, as Kai Havertz, Nick Woltemade and Jonathan Tah all missed penalties to cede the stage to the Paraguayans. Gustavo Alfaro’s doughty team needed three separate invitations to convert before Jose Canale finally provided the extraordinary ending, firing emphatically past Manuel Neuer to cue delirium all around.
Supposedly the safest option from the spot, Havertz threw away Germany’s advantage of going first. Paraguay keeper Orlando Gill made him wait an age to take it, and the delay disrupted him psychologically. Paraguay’s Mauricio immediately made him pay, lashing the ball past Manuel Neuer even though the veteran dived the right way. Gustavo Gómez and Matías Galarza were similarly nerveless in dispatching their penalties, and when Newcastle’s Nick Woltemade was denied by Gill, the Paraguay coaching staff began charging on to the pitch in celebration.
Their revelries were premature, as Antonio Salabria hooked his effort wildly wide. Then, incredibly, Fabian Valbuena spurned a second chance. But when Tah put his attempt into the ionosphere, Canale was not about to be the third sacrificial lamb, dispatching his penalty with aplomb.
Germany fell to their knees. They were livid at the decision to rule out Tah’s headed goal in extra time, which looked for all the world like the match-winning moment. The centre-back rose majestically at the far post to nod in Nathaniel Brown’s cross, but Moroccan referee Jalal Jayed decided after VAR review that Waldemar Anton had fouled Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill in the build-up.
It was a deeply debatable call, not remotely meeting the clear-and-obvious threshold. Nagelsmann made that point in no uncertain terms from the touchline and promptly found himself booked for his trouble.
So dramatic has Germany’s drop-off been as a World Cup force, they have conducted this campaign relatively under the radar. After their quest was derailed in 2018 by divisions within the team, and in 2022 by accusations of a holiday-camp atmosphere, Julian Nagelsmann has this time established a mood of quiet professionalism. There have been few rumblings of disquiet, save for an argument by Jürgen Klopp to start Stuttgart’s Denis Undav in place of Bayern Munich sensation Jamal Musiala, which the young manager duly honoured for this duel with a supremely stubborn Paraguay.
Gustavo Alfaro’s team would win few accolades for artistic merit, having cultivated an approach against more subtle opponents of simply camping out in their own half. In the first 40 minutes, they spent a grand total of 10 seconds attacking in the final third, preferring instead to sit back and soak up all the trickery that Germany could conjure. It proved an effective ploy, even if it was a form of footballing Mogadon, as the Paraguayans sat in a low block and shut off anything coming through the middle. But it has paid handsome dividends for them, as attested by their record in World Cup qualifying of conceding just 10 goals in 18 matches.
While they might not float like butterflies, they can certainly sting like bees. That much was evident from their stunning breakthrough, deftly engineered from a corner. Manuel Neuer punched the ball clear, but only as far as Miguel Almiron, the man through whom all Paraguay’s finest moves flowed. He picked out Matias Galarza on the overlap, and the River Plate midfielder duly did the rest, whipping in a wonderful cross that Julio Enciso headed beyond a flailing Neuer.
The Germans all looked at each other in despair, as if history could not possibly be repeating itself. But they were falling victim to a familiar pattern of dominating possession – they had 79 per cent in the first half here – and doing nothing with it.
They looked addled in the Massachusetts heat, not least when Aleksandar Pavlovic passed the ball clean off the pitch. Even after half-time, their body language looked defeatist, with many of their players simply shrugging and glaring at each other. The signs were inauspicious, and yet it can be the smallest moments on which these matches turn.
Kai Havertz’s head made the most feather-light contact with Florian Wirtz’s inswinging delivery from the left, but it was the crucial touch that guided the ball inches inside the post. Relief washed over the four-time champions like a flood tide.
It should have been their cue to capitalise, but this German side remain uncertain of their identity. They wasted a succession of corners and free-kicks, and it was not long before Nagelsmann brought off the ineffectual Undav, blamed by Klopp for his lethargy in allowing Paraguay to score. Plus, they were still enabling dangerous counter-attacks through their carelessness.
Germany had all the heavy artillery to kill off this game but kept misfiring as Wirtz again unleashed Havertz, only for the centre-forward to direct his header straight at Orlando Gill.
The longer the score stayed level, the likelier it seemed that the favourites would wobble, with Gustavo Caballero creating danger when he surged clear. The live German broadcasts were awash with anxiety: Das darf nicht wahr sein – “This cannot be happening” – said one.
To their credit, they swarmed all over Paraguay as extra time loomed, with the South Americans visibly tiring and resorting to some agricultural challenges.
Tah’s header threatened to break their resistance, but once the referee chose to disallow it their spirits lifted anew, sustaining them all the way through to the climax of that staggering shoot-out.
Telegraph, London
