Paraguay
Today's Talking Points
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1Paraguay's run ended in the round of 16, beaten 1-0 by France on July 4 — a single Kylian Mbappé penalty in the 70th minute the only difference between them and the semifinals. A tight, proud way to go out against the team that reached the final.
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2The story of their tournament was the round of 32: Paraguay eliminated four-time champions Germany on penalties, 4-3, after a 1-1 draw — widely rated the biggest shock of the whole tournament. Julio Enciso scored the opener that started it all.
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3Goalkeeper Orlando Gill was the actual match-winner in that shootout, saving spot-kicks from Kai Havertz and Nick Woltemade before Germany's Jonathan Tah blazed his over the bar. Not a bad way for a goalkeeper to become a household name overnight.
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4Getting there wasn't straightforward, either — Paraguay finished third in their group after a 4-1 loss to the USA, a 1-0 win over Turkey and a goalless draw with Australia, and still made it through as one of the best third-place finishers.
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5It's not quite as deep as their famous 2010 quarterfinal run, but knocking out one of the tournament favourites on the way is the kind of story Paraguayan football will be telling for years regardless of exactly which round it happened in.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Paraguay knocked four-time champions Germany out of this World Cup on penalties — their goalkeeper saved two spot-kicks to do it — and that's before you even get to how close they came to knocking out France as well.
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Avoid saying
Don't say 'at least they beat Germany' like that's the whole story — they then went toe-to-toe with the eventual finalists and lost by a single penalty. Underselling the France game undersells the whole run.