Ten-man Paraguay held on for a vital victory in their Group D clash with Türkiye, which saw Vincenzo Montella’s team crash out of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Türkiye have been knocked out of the World Cup after losing 1-0 to 10-man Paraguay.
Vincenzo Montella’s side could not find a way to recover from Matías Galarza‘s early strike, despite playing the second half with an extra player after Miguel Almirón was shown a straight red card before the interval.
Paraguay went ahead after just 65 seconds at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium after Galarza found the bottom-right corner from distance, following a clever flick from Julio Enciso.
Mert Müldür almost levelled for Türkiye in the 35th minute, but saw his header from Hakan Çalhanoglu’s cross first hit the crossbar and then the post, though they received a boost before the break.
Almiron was shown a straight red card in stoppage time following a VAR review after covering his mouth while speaking to Muldur.
Türkiye dominated possession in the second half with their numerical advantage, yet they could not find their way past Orlando Gill, who kept out two long-range attempts from Merih Demiral and a weak header from Deniz Gül.
Muldur then failed to test the Paraguay goalkeeper with his header from Abdülkerim Bardakci’s centre, before Demiral skied an attempt from close range as Turkiye grew more and more frustrated, with the clock ticking down.
Their best chances were still to come, as Can Uzun saw his first-time effort parried away by Gill before the rebound was fired wide by Gül, while Demiral saw one last header fly narrowly wide in stoppage time.
Türkiye, fancied by some as dark horses to go on a deep run, have joined Haiti in suffering an early exit. Paraguay, meanwhile, know second place in Group D is up for grabs when they face Australia next.
Enciso Leads From the Front
Enciso was an injury concern ahead of the tournament after picking up an injury during Paraguay’s warm-up against Nicaragua, but the Strasbourg midfielder recovered in time to feature and made a huge impact in this win.
Along with his assist, Enciso created the joint-most chances (four), completed the most dribbles (6/8) and won nine of his 12 duels to help his side hold onto their slender lead.
At 22 years and 148 days, Enciso is the youngest Paraguay player to provide two assists in a single World Cup tournament since 1966; he is also only the third player from his nation to register an assist in multiple games at the tournament, following Francisco Arce (three) and Roque Santa Cruz (two).
Enciso has also completed the most dribbles by a Paraguay player in a World Cup match since Miguel Angel Benítez against France in 1998.
For Türkiye, meanwhile, it was a similar story to their defeat against Australia as their inability to finish their chances proved all too costly; they failed to score with any of their 32 shots against Paraguay, after failing to score with any of their 30 in the opening match versus Australia.
Star players Kenan Yildiz and Çalhanoglu had six shots each, but only got one on target between them.
Yildiz created a joint-team-high four chances, too, while Real Madrid’s Arda Güler crafted three opportunities, but Paraguay held firm against the odds.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Türkiye vs Paraguay stats from their 2026 FIFA World Cup Group B meeting at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium on 19 June.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Türkiye 0-1 Paraguay: Post-Match Opta Facts
- Matías Galarza’s goal, timed at 01:04, is the fastest at a FIFA World Cup since Denmark’s Zanka scored after 55 seconds against Croatia in 2018.
- Matías Galarza is the first player since yellow cards were introduced in 1970 to score a goal and receive a yellow card before the 15th minute in a FIFA World Cup match.
- Abdülkerim Bardakci completed all 98 passes he attempted against Paraguay, the most passes with a 100 percent accuracy rate by any player in a FIFA World Cup match since 1966, surpassing Chris Richards’ 84/84 against Paraguay earlier in this tournament.
- Türkiye had 78.6% possession against Paraguay, the sixth-highest figure in a FIFA World Cup match since records began in 1966.
- Türkiye have had 62 shots without scoring in their two FIFA World Cup matches the most by any team across a two-game span without a goal since records began in 1966.
- Of the last four times a team won a FIFA World Cup match after having a player sent off in the first half, Paraguay are responsible for two of them (vs. Türkiye today, vs. Slovenia in 2002).
- Matías Galarza’s goal (1:04) is now the earliest winning goal in World Cup history, overtaking Ismael Saibari’s effort for Morocco earlier today (1:10).
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