FOXBOROUGH: Jonathan Tah dodged Germany’s sixth penalty kick well over the crossbar after seeing his apparent extra-time winner controversially disallowed, and Paraguay eliminated the Germans from the World Cup with a 4-3 victory on penalties following a 1-1 draw in the round of 32 on Monday.
Tah missed after Orlando Gill saved from Kai Havertz and Nick Woltemade to put Paraguay in control, only for La Albirroja to waste their first two chances to seal the tiebreaker.
Manuel Neuer saved their second against Fabián Balbuena to force an improbable sixth round of shots.
But Tah’s effort never came close to finding the net, and after José Canale converted, Paraguay advanced to the last 16 in their first World Cup since 2010, at the expense of a German team that has not reached that stage since winning the 2014 tournament.
Gill also made six saves in 120 minutes for Paraguay, who are looking to repeat their 2010 quarterfinal appearance.
Germany thought they had won in extra time with Tah’s header in the 102nd minute following a Nathaniel Brown corner kick.
But referee Jalal Jayed was summoned to the replay monitor by VAR leader Tatiana Guzmán. After rewatching the play, he cleared the goal and ruled that Waldemar Anton had fouled Gill to free up space for Tah’s header at the far post.
Julio Enciso put Paraguay ahead in the 42nd minute in one of the South Americans’ only incursions before the break with a clear header from a Matías Galarza cross from near the penalty spot.
Havertz equalized for Germany nine minutes after the break with an even better header, taking advantage of a Florian Wirtz service into the bottom right corner.
Tah’s disallowed goal was one of a spate of subsequent chances in which the Germans simply couldn’t find the goal.
In the 78th minute, Havertz again connected from even closer range, but this time Gill dived to the left in time to deny the shot.
In the 86th minute, Leon Goretzka took advantage of a corner kick from Wirtz, but his own teammate Anton, who was near the line in an offside position, kept his defender out of the goal.
And then, in the second extra time, Anton reached another German corner in the 118th minute, his header going straight into the waiting arms of Gill on the goal line.
