Ten-man Paraguay dump out profligate Turkey in San Francisco thriller

Paraguay secured one of its biggest wins in World Cup history after seeing off Turkey 1-0 at the San Francisco Stadium in USA, this despite playing with 10 men for majority of the game, after Miguel Almiron had been given a red card for covering his mouth in a confrontation.

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Paraguay, days removed from a 4-1 thrashing to USA last weekend, had the finest starts this year’s World Cup has seen, after going ahead inside 65 seconds, and engineering one of the greatest escapes to dump the much-fancied Turkey out of the competition.

It was a dream start for Gustavo Alfaro’s men as they snatched the record for scoring the fastest goal in this year’s World Cup from Morocco’s Ismael Saibari, when Matias Galarza let loose a cannon from 25 yards to catch out Turkey goalkeeper Uğurcan Çakır, a goal that turned around the contest to a full-bloodied, high octane clash at the Bay Area.

Saibari's early stunner lifts Morocco closer to World Cup knockouts

Carrying the disappointment of their surprise 2-0 defeat to Australia, Turkey did not take the early deficit lying down, unleashing countless attacks to the opposition goal.

After a couple of near misses, including a long shot from star man Arda Guler that went over the bar, and a Mert Müldür header that pinged off the crossbar and the upright, Vincenzo Montella’s men thought they had the perfect reprieve, when Paraguay went down to 10 men.

The incident, which played out just like the drama witnessed before-hand, saw the centre referee Ivan Barton summoned to the VAR in the second minute of first half added time, to review an off-the-ball moment that pictured Almiron muttering words to Müldür, all while covering his mouth with his right palm.

Upon review, Barton applied the new rules at this year’s World Cup, brandishing the red card to Almiron, and handing Turkey the initiative to haul themselves from a premature World Cup exit.

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As fate would have it, however, the same tribulations that befell Turkey against Australia were on full show here again, as the men in white labored all night, but contrived to find ways not to score.

For much of the second half, Turkey held the ball, but created little to no clear-cut chances to threaten Orlando Gill.

Kenan Yıldız, bossing on the left wing, was ineffective when making inroads inside the box, and so were Guler and second-half substitute Deniz Gül, as a timely finish eluded Turkey, despite numerous crosses being sent in.

Paraguay, hanging on their ropes, had the odd counter attacks to add to their tally, but for Julio Enciso to notably scuff a chance when through on goal in the 59th minute.

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Close to the end, Turkey were handed point-blank chances for goal, but for Merih Demiral to twice miss the target; the last of which he sent a towering header agonizingly wide.

32 attempts, and just five on target for Turkey. When a story will be written about Paraguay’s journey in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, then this stat will sound like music to their ears.

Down, but not out.

WORLD CUP - GROUP STAGE (ROUND 2)

Group D

Friday 19.06.

USA - Australia 2-0 (2-0)

/Burgess 11 og, Freeman 43/

Saturday 20.06.

Turkey - Paraguay 0-1 (0-1)

/Galarza 2/