Paraguay just pulled off the kind of upset that gets you a day off work. Literally.
President Santiago Pena declared a national holiday for Tuesday, June 30, after his country’s national team knocked Germany out of the World Cup in a penalty shootout. The South Americans, who barely scraped into the knockout stage as one of the best third-place finishers, sent the four-time champions home in what’s already being called one of the biggest shocks of the tournament.
How it happened
Julio Enciso put Paraguay ahead with a first-half header. Germany’s Kai Havertz equalized after the break. Then things got weird. Jonathan Tah thought he’d scored a go-ahead goal in extra time, but VAR called it back after a long, tense review. The Germans argued. The Paraguayans breathed. The referee stuck with the call.
The shootout was a mess in the best possible way. Paraguay missed two chances to close it out. Germany couldn’t capitalize. And finally, Jose Canale stepped up and sent Manuel Neuer the wrong way to seal it. It was Germany’s first-ever loss in a World Cup penalty shootout.
Pena didn’t waste any time. He posted on X: “Paraguay never gives up! Public holiday, damn it!”
This isn’t his first time pulling this trigger. He declared a holiday last September too, back when Paraguay qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 2010. According to Paraguayan law, the executive branch can declare up to three extra public holidays per year. Pena’s now used two of them on soccer.
What comes next
Paraguay moves on to the round of 16 in Philadelphia on Saturday. They’ll face either France or Sweden. Either way, they’ve already done something no one expected. A team that barely made it out of the group stage just beat Germany in a knockout game. That’s the kind of story that turns a tournament on its head.
For now, Paraguayans get a day to celebrate. And maybe recover from whatever celebrations kicked off the second that penalty hit the back of the net.
Leave a Comment