Paraguay – Sports Radio Service

The flags of Australia and Paraguay are on full displayed before the playing of the national anthems before both countries final match in Group D play of the FIFA 2026 World Cup at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium on Thursday JUN 25, 2026. (Marko Ukalovic-SRS)

by Marko Ukalovic

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Australia and Paraguay dragged out to a scoreless draw in their final match in Group D play of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Thursday evening at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium.

Australia finished Group D with four points, good enough for second place and an automatic bid to the Round of 32. Paraguay also finished with four points but ended up in third as they had a worse goal differential than the Aussies minus two to zero. Paraguay is in the fourth spot of the third-place teams and is in good position to advance to the knockout round. The top eight third-place team advance along with the 24 group winners and second place finishers.

Australia (1-1-1) made six changes to the starting XI that faced the United States in their 2-0 loss. Aziz Behich, Lucas Herrington, Jackson Irvine, Nestory Irankunda, Connor Metcalfe and Cristian Volpato were inserted to start by head coach Tony Popovic. Mathew Leckie and Jacob Italiano are injured, Cameron Burgess, Paul Okon-Engstler, Mohamed Touré and Nishan Velupillay were benched to begin the game.

Lucas Herrington made his World Cup debut at 18 years of age. Twelve months ago, he was barely playing senior football and now is playing for Barcelona in the La Liga.

Paraguay (1-1-1) made 3 changes to their starting XI that faced Turkiye. Alexandro Maidana, Gustavo Velázquez and Gabriel Ávalos come in today. Miguel Almiron is suspended from receiving a red card for covering his mouth in the last match, Junior Alonso and Isidro Pitta started on the bench for La Albirroja (white and red).

Both teams found it difficult to create quality scoring chances in the first half. Australia’s Jody Bos recorded his team’s first shot on target in the 36th minute. Bos’s shot from long distance was saved by Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gil. The Socceroos finished with three shots on target while Paraguay didn’t register any in the opening 45 minutes.

The match featured a lot of physicality on both sides and things got even chippier in the second half as hard tackles as well as pushes and shoves were being allowed by referee Clement Turpin to the frustration of both teams.

Both countries had chances in stoppage time to break the deadlock and earn three points. Paraguay’s Mauricio attempt in the third minute of stoppage time was saved by Australian goalkeeper Patrick Beach. Then a minute later Ajdin Rustic cut back into the middle and found Tete Yengi who wasn’t able to muster much power on his shot attempt as Gil gobbled up the last chance of the match.

Beach made five saves and Gil had two for their respective clean sheets.

The flags of Paraguay and Türkiye were on full display before the team’s national anthems in Paraguay’s 1-0 win over Turkiye at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium on Friday JUN 19. 2026. (Marko Ukalovic-SRS)

by Marko Ukalovic

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The country of Paraguay pulled off a stunner at the World Cup.

Down 10 men late in the first half, Paraguay scored early and then held on for dear life in a 1-0 victory over Türkiye in both country’s second match in Group D play of the 2026 World Cup on Friday evening at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium.

Türkiye, which was predicted to be a dark horse of the Cup, have been eliminated from the knockout round competition with its second loss of the tournament. Paraguay, who looked weak against the Americans a week ago, showed off its resiliency with its first win in the tournament.

Paraguay danced out to its first lead of the tournament 65 seconds into the match with the fastest goal at this year’s World Cup. Matías Galarza came down the pitch with the ball and fired a left-footed shot from 25-yards out to the left corner of the net past Türkiye goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir for his first goal of the tournament.

Türkiye dominated possession in the opening 45 minute and its best chance for an equalizer came in the 34th minute. Hakan Calhanoglu sent in a cross into the middle of box off of a free kick, but Mert Müldür’s header off hit the crossbar and goalpost.

Tensions ran high all throughout the match with multiple instances of pushing and shoving and heated exchanges between both squads after stoppages.

Paraguay midfielder Miguel Almirón became the first player to be issued a red card for a new ruled introduced by FIFA for this year’s World Cup. Almirón was involved in a heated argument with Müldür following a foul near midfield. Almirón covered his mouth while saying something to the Turkish defender, who immediately appealed to Salvadoran referee Ivan Barton for a review.

After a VAR review, Barton issued Almirón the red card in the third minute of stoppage time in the first half sending the frustrated Paraguayan midfielder off the pitch for an early shower.

Just like it did in the first half, the Turks dominated possession and created chances as Paraguay’s defense bent but didn’t break. Türkiye had 32 shot attempts compared to just seven for Paraguay, with five on target.

Türkiye’s best chance to earn at least a point and keep their fading hopes alive came in the 89th minute. Baris-Alper Yilmaz sent a ball over to Can Uzun whose 18-yard strike was saved by Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gil. The rebound chance by Deniz Gul sailed wide left ending the threat.

Gil finished the match with five saves for his first clean sheet of the tournament. Cakir made one saves on two shots on target in the losing cause.

UP NEXT: Paraguay finishes up Group D play against Australia on Thursday June 25th at 8:00pm at San Francisco Stadium. Türkiye will play its last match of the tournament against Team USA also on the 25th at 7:00pm at Los Angeles Stadium.