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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — As the hot afternoon turned into a golden hour summer evening in suburban Massachusetts, Paraguay delivered the first knockout upset of the 2026 World Cup.
Paraguay defeated Germany 4–3 on penalty kicks in a match that ended 1–1 after extra time on Monday in front of 63,945 fans in Foxborough. Coming into the match, Paraguay was ranked 37th to Germany’s 12th in FIFA’s rankings, making this one of the biggest knockout upsets in World Cup history.
Paraguay is the first lower-ranked team to come out with a Round of 32 win this week. Canada beat South Africa on Sunday, and Brazil sneaked past Japan earlier Monday. It was the first match of the 2026 tournament to go to a penalty shootout.
Julio Enciso gave Paraguay the lead heading into halftime, before Germany’s Kai Havertz delivered the equalizer in the 54th minute. Neither side scored during the 30-minute extra time, although Germany had a goal called back due to a controversial foul. Even members of Fox’s broadcast team were split on the call, both on the airwaves and on social media.
Heading into what would become a dramatic penalty shootout, the atmosphere in the building was tense, but Paraguayan supporters were still dancing. Paraguay took an early advantage in the shootout, but German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer blocked the fifth attempt that would’ve given the South American side the victory, sending the kicks into sudden death. His teammate Jonathan Tah whiffed Germany’s sixth shot high and left, once again setting Neuer in a do-or-die situation. José Canale delivered, and Paraguay eliminated Germany from the tournament.
Germany is a World Cup powerhouse, with four titles and eight more semifinals appearances, but they were knocked out in the group stage of the last two World Cups and have now failed to make it back to the round of 16.
Paraguay will now move on to play the winner of France–Sweden on July 4 in Philadelphia. The team will take home at least $15 million in prize money for making the Round of 16. (Germany heads back with $11 million.)
The game was not a sellout, and was announced at 201 fans short of FIFA’s capacity for the Patriots’ Gillette Stadium, which is rebranded to Boston Stadium during the tournament. The atmosphere was still lively, with drums beating throughout the match.
Tickets for Monday’s game were some of the cheapest of the tournament on secondary sites, and fell to a get-in price of $444 before the match, according to resale market tracker TicketData. That price was down 68% over the past week, part of a larger trend of knockout match get-in tickets dropping as matchups were determined. FIFA also released small amounts of inventory on its own website as the group stage turned over into the knockout rounds.
Viral German fan “Freddy” attended the match and provided a few updates of his trip to Foxborough. When Germany’s extra time goal was called back for a controversial foul on the keeper, he posted a series of question marks. At the end of the match, he posted a broken heart emoji.
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