Matías Galarza struck inside two minutes, Miguel Almirón was gone by halftime, and Paraguay spent most of the second half defending with ten men against a Türkiye side that had 79 percent possession, 32 shots, and nothing to show for it. The final score at Levi’s Stadium was 1-0 to Paraguay, a result as unlikely on paper as it was decisive in practice. Türkiye generated an xG of 2.10 and could not convert a single goal; Paraguay’s goalkeeper Orlando Gill made five saves and kept the cleansheet that his side barely deserved but needed.
Key Moments
- 2′, Matías Galarza opens the scoring with a normal goal, giving Paraguay a shock lead almost from kickoff.
- 4′, Galarza is immediately booked for tripping, picking up a yellow card just two minutes after his goal.
- 45′, Miguel Almirón is shown a red card for unsportsmanlike conduct at the end of the first half, leaving Paraguay to play the entire second half a man down.
- 46′, Both teams make substitutions at the break. Isidro Pitta comes off for Paraguay as the side reorganizes for ten-man defense; Kerem Aktürkoğlu enters for Türkiye.
- 63′, Türkiye coach Vincenzo Montella is booked on the touchline as frustration builds on the home bench.
Tactical Breakdown
Türkiye controlled the match so completely that the stats almost look like a data error. Vincenzo Montella’s side had 79 percent of the ball, completed 561 of 630 passes at 89 percent accuracy, attempted 32 shots and earned 12 corner kicks. Their xG of 2.10 reflected genuine pressure, with 16 shots from inside the box. But only five of those 32 attempts were on target, and Gill stopped the ones that mattered. The front four of Arda Güler, Kenan Yıldız, Yunus Akgün and Kerem Aktürkoğlu combined for plenty of movement but struggled to produce the final ball in tight spaces.
After Almirón’s red card, Paraguay’s second half became a study in low-block discipline. The side dropped into a compact 4-3-2 shape, ceded every inch of possession and funneled Türkiye’s attacks toward the outside. Montella threw on Kadıoğlu at left back in the 70th minute for added width and used all five substitutions in a scrambling attempt to find a goal. The double change at the 60th minute, bringing in Yüksek and Akgün simultaneously, was intended to add urgency but Türkiye never found the combination to unlock a defense that had numbers behind the ball if nothing else.
For all their numerical disadvantage, Paraguay were also helped by Türkiye’s wastefulness from distance. Twelve of their shots came from outside the box, and the five on-target efforts were spread across the 90 minutes rather than concentrated in a final onslaught. With only 2 shots on goal across the whole match and a 53 percent pass accuracy, Paraguay never threatened a second goal, but they never needed one.
Player Ratings
Match Context
Standings
Head To Head
Verdict
Paraguay move to three points in the group and keep their qualification hopes alive, while Türkiye stay on zero points after two matches and find themselves in a very difficult position heading into the final round of group games. Mexico lead the group with six points from two games, so the standings in this group do not include Türkiye or Paraguay, but this loss makes Türkiye’s path to the knockout stage extraordinarily narrow. For Paraguay, winning while a man down after the 45th minute is the kind of result that can define a tournament run.