FOXBOROUGH: Jonathan Tah slotted Germany’s sixth shot well over the crossbar after seeing his apparent overtime winner controversially disallowed, and Paraguay knocked the Germans out of the World Cup with a 4-3 victory on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the round of 16 on Monday.
Tah missed after Orlando Gill saved from Kai Havertz and Nick Woltemade to put Paraguay in control, only for the Albirroja to miss their first two chances to seal the tiebreaker.
Manuel Neuer saved the second of those against Fabian Balbuena to force an improbable sixth round of penalties.
But Tah’s effort never came close to finding the net, and after José Canale’s conversion, Paraguay advanced to the knockout stages of their first World Cup since 2010, at the expense of a German side who have 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 quarter-final appearance.
Germany thought they had won in extra time thanks to Tah’s 102nd-minute header from a Nathaniel Brown corner.
But referee Jalal Jayed was called onto the replay monitor by senior VAR Tatiana Guzman. After reviewing the play, he cleared the goal, ruling 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 forays before half-time with a neat header from a Matias Galarza cross near the penalty spot.
Havertz equalized for Germany nine minutes after the break with an even better header, sending Florian Wirtz’s inside serve into the bottom right corner.
Tah’s disallowed goal was part of a series of subsequent chances where the Germans simply failed to find the breakthrough.
In the 78th minute, Havertz again connected from even closer range, but this time Gill rushed down the left in time to deny the effort.
In the 86th, Leon Goretzka met a Wirtz corner but saw his defender pushed away from goal by his own teammate Anton, who was standing near the line in an offside position.
And then, in the second extra time, Anton himself reached another German corner in the 118th minute, his header headed straight into Gill’s waiting arms on the goal line.
