Germany Ousted in First Shootout Defeat

Forget the fact that Germany had never lost a penalty shootout at the World Cups, which is a great fact by itself. Try and remember that the four-time World Cup champions hadn’t ever lost a shootout in any competition since the Czechoslovakian midfielder Antonin Panenka did something so outrageous from the spot against the (West) Germans that he has since had the audacious straight loop of a kick during the dreaded one-on-one with the goalie named after him.

That was in 1976, half a century ago. It is possible that Jonathan Tah, Germany’s boulder of a central defender, did not know this statistic as he stood at the spot to put his side ahead in the most twisted of penalty shootouts, where Germany returned from the brink of elimination thanks to an inspired performance by their 40-year-old legend of a goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer, who induced two consecutive saves to take the match into a sudden death situation in the shootout. What Tah certainly knew at this point while waiting to take his penalty was that his clinical header that found the back of the Paraguayan net during the dregs of extra time was sadly disallowed due to a simultaneous foul on Orlando Gill, Paraguay’s straddling ‘keeper.

Had that Tah goal not been checked by VAR, Germany would have won the Round of 32 contest 2-1 to emerge victorious in their first World Cup knockout game since the final of the 2014 edition in Brazil. But it wasn’t – due to a foul that wasn’t really one – and the gnarliest of matches finished 1-1, making the spectators in Boston and those watching world over rather thankful that the misery of the worst game of football in this edition had at last come to an end.

For 120 excruciating minutes, there wasn’t much football to speak of. Paraguay parked the bus within the first few minutes, ensuring they had ten defenders and a goalie happy to hoof the ball away, even as the Germans instantly and repeatedly surrounded them deep in their half. And despite having all the possession in the world (80 to 20 in the first 45 minutes), only to never create any real chances via crosses into the box.

Out of nowhere during the end of this jarring period, Paraguay scored thanks to the rarest of counter attacks by their No.10, Miguel Almiron. Almiron’s run resulted in a corner and the set piece ensured a goal from Julio Enciso. 1-0 at half-time forced German playmaker Leon Goretzka to take the field for the second half, and promptly the crosses began, one of which was headed in by Kai Havertz.

It was Havertz, though, who missed the first penalty during the shootout, and soon Germany trailed by three goals to two, and at this point had Paraguay’s Antonio Sanabria scored, the match would have been over at 4-2. But Neuer guessed right and forced Sanabria to miss, before making a diving save off the next Paraguayan penalty by Fabian Balbuena, wildly swinging back the momentum towards a country that historically doesn’t lose in shootouts.

Now it was Tah’s turn at 3-3. He chose power over precision and missed the crossbar by a great distance, the kick sailing into the crowd. The game then rested on the foot of Jose Canale, Paraguay’s tired centre-back. He coolly slashed the back of the net as Neuer dived the other way and Paraguay hadn’t finally won as much as Germany had lost, knocked ignominiously out of the competition for the very first time from the spot.