Germany, four-time winners of the World Cup, have crashed out of the tournament in stunning fashion, beaten by Paraguay in a penalty shootout after their round of 32 tie finished one apiece. The defeat ranks as one of the biggest upsets of the competition so far, and it leaves one of international football's traditional powerhouses heading home far earlier than almost anyone had expected.
The match itself was a tense, tightly contested affair that Germany were widely expected to win. Many had spoken before kick-off about the Germans qualifying comfortably, but Paraguay refused to play their part in that script, matching their more illustrious opponents and taking the game all the way to a shootout after ninety minutes and extra time could not separate the two sides at one goal each.
There was late drama before the spot-kicks, with a Germany header in extra time, which had looked for a moment as though it might settle the tie, ruled out by the video assistant referee. That intervention denied the Germans what they thought was the decisive goal and pushed an increasingly nervous contest towards the lottery of penalties, a stage at which Germany have historically been formidable.
History, however, counted for nothing on the night. Germany had never previously lost a penalty shootout at a World Cup, a record that had become part of their footballing identity, but that proud sequence finally came to an end. They missed three of their six penalties, the crucial one struck by a Bayern Munich defender, and the misses proved fatal against opponents who held their nerve.
It fell to Jose Canale to seal the moment, the Paraguay defender converting the decisive kick to send his country through and confirm Germany's exit. The scenes that followed captured the scale of the achievement, with Paraguay's players struggling to put into words what they had just done against one of the giants of the world game on the sport's biggest stage.
Paraguay's reward is a place in the round of 16, where they will face either Sweden or France as they look to continue an unlikely run. For Germany, the inquest will begin almost immediately, with another early World Cup departure adding to a difficult recent record at the tournament for a nation accustomed to going deep into the latter stages.
Germany were not the only heavyweight to fall on a dramatic day of knockout football. The Netherlands also went out, beaten on penalties by Morocco, while Brazil needed an injury-time winner from substitute Gabriel Martinelli to see off a spirited Japan side and avoid a shock of their own, underlining how unpredictable this stage of the competition has become.