Turkiye have become the second team to be eliminated from the 2026 FIFA World Cup after their 1-0 defeat to Paraguay. The European side, regarded as one of the dark horses ahead of the tournament, have now been eliminated after back-to-back defeats.
Both sides came into their clash in San Francisco with their hopes of staying in the competition hanging by a thread. They had lost their respective opening games to Australia and hosts USA, and knew that defeat would mean a group stage exit.
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Like in the Scotland-Morocco game earlier in the day, the South Americans struck very early through Matias Galarza, who finished off a deft flick from Julio Enciso. They were reduced to ten players in first half stoppage time when star forward Miguel Almiron was sent off, but they held on to claim a vital win.
Here are five talking points from the Group D game:
1. First sighting of Vinicius Law at the FIFA World Cup
The Vinicius Law was in action for the first time at the FIFA World Cup as Paraguay star Miguel Almiron was shown a direct red card in first half stoppage time. The former Newcastle United man had covered his mouth while he exchanged words with Mert Muldur, and a VAR review advised the referee to send him off.
The law came into effect after the racism incident between Vinicius Jr and Gianluca Prestianni during the 2025-26 season. FIFA stated that during the World Cup, players would be sent off if they covered their mouths to speak to opponents.
2. End of the road for Turkiye
Turkiye have reached the end of the road after their defeat to Paraguay in San Francisco. Vincenzo Montella’s side have crashed out despite the likes of Hakan Calhanoglu, Arda Guler, Kenan Yildiz, and several others in their squad.
The European side lost their first game against Australia, whose goalkeeper Patrick Beach made eight saves. The game ended 2-0, and the game against Paraguay ended 1-0 despite their xG of 2.10. Their first World Cup campaign since 2002 will now come to an abrupt end after they take on hosts USA in their final group game.
3. Paraguay dig deep despite red card
Paraguay dug deep to claim their first win of the 2026 FIFA World Cup against the odds. They were reduced to ten players in the first half and had to play the entirety of the second period a man down, but managed to keep a clean sheet.
Gustavo Alfaro’s side faced 32 shots throughout the game, 20 of which came after the half-time break. They completed just 95 passes to 559 from Turkiye, and had just 22% of the ball throughout the game.
4. Unwanted history for Turkiye
Turkiye made unwanted history as they were eliminated from the 2026 FIFA World Cup after consecutive losses. Montella’s side is made up of several highly-rated players but failed at the first hurdle at the tournament.
They became the side with the most attempts in any two-game spell at the World Cup without scoring a single goal. They attempted 30 shots against Australia and 32 against Paraguay but remain scoreless in the competition this summer.
5. Paraguay scores fastest goal of World Cup so far
Paraguay scored the quickest goal of this summer’s FIFA World Cup so far, needing just 64 seconds to open the scoring against Turkiye. Matias Galarza scored the goal with a fine strike from outside the box with just over a minute on the clock.
Galarza’s goal came just hours after Ismael Saibari had scored Morocco’s only goal against Scotland after just 71 seconds. The South Americans will look to their third group game against Australia for their chance to secure passage into the knockout stages.
Edited by Sulayman Salahudeen
