Gustavo Alfaro is a manager who turns press conferences into sermons. And after guiding Paraguay past Germany in the round of 32, he was back at his altar.Only, unlike 24 hours earlier, the 63-year-old from Argentina no longer needed to convince his audience.Having spent 50 minutes on Sunday pleading for unity and commitment to the process if they lost to Germany, he strode into the press conference room a certified national hero. His team was the first to beat Germany in a World Cup penalty shootout.He received a round of applause and confirmation that the president had granted a public holiday. “An epic evening,” Alfaro said.Get free access to the most comprehensive World Cup coverage in The Athletic appThe post-match press conference extended beyond an hour as he waxed lyrical about his players but his answers were punctuated by the sound of his players dancing and singing through the wall.They had just pulled off the greatest shock of this World Cup, beating Germany 4-3 on penalties after the match had finished 1-1 following 120 minutes. Ranked 41st in the world, the 31-place gulf between them and 10th-placed Germany made it the fourth-biggest upset in knockout history.“I told them in the dressing room: ‘I want to see 26 warriors enter the field and leave as legends’. And that’s exactly what they did,” said Alfaro.“We have thousands of flaws, but we have a heart that never gives up. Germany were trained in top-tier academies. We come from the red earth. Our jersey represents the stripes of that red earth, playing barefoot on that soil, with the sacrifice of our parents. We come from those places.“We don’t win because of that, but we don’t deny our origins because it’s what defines us as a national team. It was an absolute demonstration of self-belief and conviction.”Captain Gustavo Gomez, who was outstanding throughout, after the winning penalty was converted (Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)A natural orator, Alfaro speaks in a grandiose and dramatic style. “I remember a player I had, Mariano Echeverria, said to me, ‘Gustavo, every player has a heart, but not every coach has the ability to win a player’s heart’,” said Alfaro. “It really made me think. Wow, what a definition. And that’s what I came to do.“He has proven that his powers of motivation can extract a level of performance from these Paraguay players deemed impossible. Certainly not after the opening 4-1 loss to the USMNT, which suggested they would soon be heading home.No one epitomised the resilience and growth mindset of this team more than goalkeeper Orlando Gill, who made two decisive penalty saves. Having only made his national team debut in September and racked up just 61 senior games for CS San Lorenzo (Paraguay) and San Lorenzo de Almagro (Argentina) by the age of 26, he has become an unlikely hero.His struggles have extended beyond the pitch. In 2022, his son Lautaro was born prematurely and his partner Melissa explained on social media how he sold his clothes, youth national team jerseys and whatever was needed to pay for his care. He was not making enough from football.“Right now, many things are going through my head,” said Gill. “I have to stop and think carefully about what we have achieved. Thank God luck was on our side.”It has taken Alvaro time to get to the big time, too. In June 2006, he was in Monchengladbach listening to Jurgen Klinsmann’s press conference after his Germany team had beaten Colombia 3-0 in their World Cup warm-up match. Alfaro had just been sacked by San Lorenzo, his eighth job in 14 years since starting as a 30-year-old following a brief playing career in Argentina.“How wonderful it would be to sit in that spot, bearing the responsibility for an entire country’s dreams on your shoulders.’ At the time, I had to prove I could still manage in the top flight in Argentina. That day, I began building the dream of managing at a World Cup,” said Alfaro.He made it with Ecuador in 2022, but his rebuild of Paraguay’s national team since 2024 runs deeper. They had not been to a World Cup since 2010, and Alfaro inherited a team “devastated” after the Copa America in 2024. They lost all three games, the last one to Costa Rica, in which they were 2-0 down after seven minutes.The World Cup looked doomed, too. One win in the first six games of qualifying with just a single goal scored.“I had many friends there who asked: ‘Are you crazy? How can you go there when it’s doomed to fail?'” said Alfaro. “The harder and more complex the situation, the more I enjoy the challenge.”In his first five games, Paraguay beat Argentina and Brazil in Asuncion, the capital. They lost once in the remaining 12 World Cup qualifiers, away to Brazil, conceding only seven goals as they sealed the last of the six CONMEBOL automatic spots.But after a dreadful start to the World Cup, he was on the back foot. A backs-to-the-wall victory over Turkey, despite playing with 10 men for an entire half due to a red card for Miguel Almiron and facing 32 shots on goal, they survived. A convenient goalless draw against Australia put both teams through, but Paraguay were referred to as ‘third-rate’ by some in the media.The inference irked Alfaro. On Sunday, he still sounded like an outsider hoping to be fully accepted. Asking ex-players to be supportive rather than critical, as former goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert had been towards the incumbent No 1.He hoped for a unifying experience, regardless of results. “No one is going to be the same person as when we arrived. A World Cup marks you,” said Alfaro.After their final group game, Paraguay had just two days to travel from San Francisco to Boston and prepare for Germany. They only had one training session with the full squad on Sunday evening. After watching how many variations of set-piece routines Germany had, Alfaro decided it made little sense to prepare for any of them.Efficiency was key. That meant sending detailed analysis videos directly to each individual starting player for them to digest during the five-and-a-half-hour flight.Alfaro told his players he wanted to see the Germans on the floor early in the game. To let them know that while we may enter the pitch beneath them in the hierarchy, we would leave on an equal footing.“We dance to the music they play for us… Sometimes it is cumbia, sometimes it is a tango, sometimes it is a rhumba… today, we got a polka,” laughed Alfaro.He had regrets that his team could not compete in different ways by retaining more possession. He did not want to sit so deep. Four of his players asked to be substituted they were so spent. He asked them to go to the well one more time. They did, even as Germany threw the kitchen sink at them: 834 passes, 52 crosses, 16 corners, 21 shots and giant substitutes.Nick Woltemade, 6ft 6in, to join 6ft 4in Kai Havertz up front. There was 6ft 2in Waldemar Anton and Malick Thiaw, 6ft 4in in defence while 6ft 2in Leon Goretzka came on in midfield.“They were getting taller and taller,” said Alfaro. “We had to mark them two at a time. One on top of the other, like little roosters.”Paraguay captain Gustavo Gomez was a colossus. He headed crosses and blocked shots, including one diving block to prevent Woltemade from scoring and another occasion in which he out-jumped the Newcastle striker on his goal line.Gomez was in the trenches with Jose Canale, who had just four caps compared to his 91. The 29-year-old Canale only broke into the national team squad in March after a middling career. He had never started a game for Paraguay before Monday, coming off the bench in the last two matches for a combined seven minutes. Only an injury to Sunderland defender Omar Alderete propelled him into a starting berth.Canale made 15 clearances, the most of anyone on the pitch, and scored the winning penalty, rifling the ball high into the net past Manuel Neuer. This was his night.Jose Canale was immense — and scored the winning penalty (Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)“Canale is a champion in life because he has faced immense adversity,” said Alfaro. “Adversity can strike through illness or a crisis, through financial trouble, or through an emotional or personal loss. Moments where life puts you to the test, without telling you how or when. In the face of the adversity life presented to him, he transformed into a champion. That is why a night like this is a gift from life and from football for a man like him — an act of divine justice.”Alfaro dedicated the win to his family, including his French son-in-law. Paraguay will face the winner of Tuesday’s last-32 tie between France and Sweden. “He knows which side he has to be on,” laughed Alfaro. Paraguay’s spiritual leader was so engrossed in the Germany fixture that, after full time, he was not aware of the location of the next round. His press officer had to inform him that he was due on a plane to Philadelphia by the afternoon. The last-16 lectern awaits his latest soliloquy.