June 20, 2026
Turkey arrived at their first World Cup in 24 years with great expectations and a host of rising stars but crashed out goalless and in tears after another shocking failure to convert against Paraguay.
Despite facing 10 men for more than a half, Turkey slumped to a 1-0 defeat against the spirited South Americans after racking up 32 goal attempts to be eliminated with a match to spare.
It came after they amassed 30 fruitless attempts in a 2-0 opening defeat by Australia, a match in which they were similarly thwarted by poor finishing and a staunch opposition defence.
The 62 shots combined were the most without a goal in any two-match span in the World Cup on record in data collected since 1966.
