Paraguay beat Germany on penalties to send the Germans home and progress to the Round of 16.
Gustavo Alfaro’s side were the ones to take the lead just before halftime, despite the sustained pressure Germany put them under.
Julio Enciso headed it home after a nice move down the right from Paraguay, arriving as the free man in the box.
Kai Havertz levelled things up early in the second half, making it 1-1 in the 54th minute with a headed effort finding the far right corner.
Germany continued to ask questions, but Paraguay stayed strong, taking it to extra time where there was plenty of controversy, including a disallowed goal for Nagelsmann’s side.
Paraguay managed to send it to penalties and after misses from Havertz, Nick Woltemade and Jonathan Tah, they secured victory and qualification to the next round.
In this article, we’ll cover
Paraguay’s asymmetric 4-4-2
Paraguay set up in a solid 4-4-2 shape, but with a few interesting details compared to your average 4-4-2 defensive scheme.
Enciso was heavily oriented towards the right in the front two, looking to apply pressure to Joshua Kimmich when he got the ball.
Miguel Almiron and Matias Galarza then took up very narrow positions in the midfield four, blocking any central progression.
This worked extremely well against Germany, as their primary attacking organisation is built around central combinations.
Paraguay’s 4-4-2 shape left space on the outside of their block, forcing Germany to use their width, which lacked in quality.
With little to no interest of hitting Germany on the break, Paraguay expended their energy plugging defensive gaps and limiting the threat against them.
In the first half, Paraguay limited Germany to just five shots despite having 75% of the ball, only generating 0.14 expected goals.
The second half saw some improvements, but even so, Paraguay still only allowed nine shots on goal, with Germany creating one big chance and generating 0.58 xG.
Paraguay were looking a little leggy heading into extra time, but still managed to keep Germany out, only allowing seven shots and 0.77 xG generated against them.
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Germany routes to chances
After the first half, where Nagelsmann had set his side out to attack through their usual central combinations, a few tweaks were made to generate more threat.
In the second half, there was more emphasis on looking to carve out space in the wide channels.
With the positioning of Felix Nmecha (first half) and Nathaniel Brown, the option to go wide and find the 1v1s against the Paraguay full-backs was always on.
However, Leroy Sane struggled to take advantage of this, attempting seven dribbles and not completing a single one.
Florian Wirtz, on the other hand, is much more effective operating inside, so also didn’t really give that wide 1v1 threat.
Therefore, Germany looked to create advantages by having their wide men drop deeper to hold width, forcing a Paraguay full-back to follow them out and creating space for an underlapping run into the space.
The increased emphasis on wide attacks allowed Germany to get more crosses into the box, looking to overload Paraguay’s defensive line.
Germany’s goal came from this, as Wirtz received the ball in a wide area, with Brown’s run taking the full-back away with him.
This created the space for Wirtz to cut inside, creating separation to deliver a ball into the box where Germany had the overload.
Havertz applied the finishing touch, making first contact and directing it to the far post with a deft touch skimming off his head.
Frantic finish as Paraguay cause upset
Extra time was a frantic affair between both sides, as Germany continued to control proceedings with plenty of the ball.
Germany had 90% possession in the first half of extra time, putting 11 crosses into the box and continuously looking to put pressure on Paraguay’s goal.
That pressure led to Tah finding the back of the net from a corner, which was disallowed for a soft blocking action on the goalkeeper from Waldemar Anton.
Temperatures were boiling from here on, as Jamal Musiala was continuously fouled, leading to him losing his temper and putting in a forceful challenge, which luckily only resulted in a yellow card.
The game was then decided on penalties, with Havertz, Woltemade and Tah all missing from the spot, giving Paraguay two bites of the cherry to secure qualification to the next round.
Jose Canale scored the winning penalty (after Fabian Balbuena missed his chance to win the shootout) sending Paraguay to the Round of 16.
Paraguay will now face the winner of France vs Sweden, looking to earn themselves a spot in the quarter-final.
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