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By William SchombergParaguay’s players have turned themselves into football legends by defeating Germany in the World Cup on Monday, says coach Gustavo Alfaro.“We never believe that we are beaten,” Alfaro told reporters after his team’s penalty shootout victory. “Twenty-six warriors went out there, and they came back as legends.”The Argentine coach had come under criticism after Paraguay lost their opener 4-1 to co-hosts the US and scored only one more goal in their other two group matches.However, they squeezed into the knockout rounds and then stunned Germany 4-3 on penalties after the teams were tied 1-1 over 120 minutes, handing the four-time champions their first-yet World Cup shootout defeat.Alfaro said the heavy defeat by the US paved the way for Monday’s historic win. “If we had not learnt from the loss, we would not have been prepared for this match,” he said. “I told the players that we have lived through an epic evening.”Paraguay opened the scoring against the run of play in the 42nd minute with a Julio Enciso header before Kai Havertz equalised in the 54th minute.Canale is one of life’s champions because he has had to go through a lot of adversity. A night like this is one of the gifts that life can give you. It’s divine justice— Gustavo Alfaro, Paraguay coachThe South Americans then dug in, surviving a disallowed German goal and hanging on for penalties.Jose Canale hammered home the winning kick, but only after two of his teammates failed to convert theirs.“As things always are with us, we don’t do things without suffering,” Alfaro said, adding a special tribute for Canale, whose professional career has been marked by loan spells with clubs in Paraguay, Argentina and Mexico.“Canale is one of life’s champions because he has had to go through a lot of adversity. A night like this is one of the gifts that life can give you. It’s divine justice.”Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann slammed the referee’s decision to disallow Jonathan Tah’s apparent extratime goal. However, he added it is unacceptable for a four-time World Cup champion to let the contest reach that point.“Of course you could say we should have solved [Paraguay’s defence] differently, but it was a legitimate goal. It’s a complete joke that it was disallowed,” Nagelsmann said.“But … if you’re eliminated in the first knockout round of such a big tournament with so many teams, it’s clearly not enough for German football.”Germany’s downward trend has lasted far longer than Nagelsmann’s three-year tenure. And while his squad technically halted a stretch of two World Cups without reaching the knockout phase in the expanded 48-team format, the Germans still failed to make the last 16, as did the 2018 and 2022 sides.Reuters
