{"id":749185,"date":"2026-06-20T09:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T09:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/749185\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T09:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T09:28:09","slug":"everybodys-crying-turkey-crash-out-as-10-man-paraguay-hang-on-for-world-cup-win-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/749185\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Everybody\u2019s crying\u2019: Turkey crash out as 10-man Paraguay hang on for World Cup win | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turkey arrived at their first World Cup<\/a> in 24 years with great expectations and a host of rising stars but crashed \u2060out goalless and in tears \u2060after another shocking \u200bfailure to convert against Paraguay.<\/p>\n

Despite facing 10 men for more than a half, Turkey<\/a> slumped to a 1-0 defeat against the spirited South Americans after racking up 32 goal \u2060attempts to be eliminated with a match to spare. It came after they amassed 30 fruitless attempts in a 2-0 opening defeat by Australia, a match in which they were similarly thwarted by poor \u2060finishing and a staunch opposition defence.<\/p>\n

The 62 shots combined were the most without a goal in any two-match span in the \u200bWorld Cup on record in data collected since 1966. That wastefulness \u200cwas only amplified by Paraguay\u2019s \u200cincredible efficiency as Matias Galarza struck the tournament\u2019s fastest goal with a stunning, 25-metre strike just over a minute into the \u200cmatch.<\/p>\n

Turkish fans will wonder what might have been had Mert Muldur\u2019s 35th-minute header from a free-kick gone in off the crossbar rather than rebounding against the post.That was as close as Turkey came despite players queuing up for a ping at goal right up to the finish, with Baris Yilmaz, Can Uzun and Merih Demiral all failing to put away good chances.<\/p>\n

Arda Guler, the 21-year-old pinup boy of Turkish soccer, apologised to the nation. \u201cWe tried very hard \u200cbut it didn\u2019t work. But we should have scored some goals,\u201d he said. \u201cWe should have won these games … Everybody\u2019s sad, everybody\u2019s crying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miguel Almir\u00f3n after he was sent off. Photograph: Richard Heathcote\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

It was a stunning fall for a team that made a swashbuckling \u200brun to the Euro 2024 quarter-finals. A golden generation of players anchored by the young talents of Guler and Kenan Yildiz had appeared set to make their mark on the global stage. Instead, Turkey\u2019s players and staff will face a fierce reaction on the home front before their final group game against the USA, who have already qualified for the last 32.<\/p>\n

For Paraguay, \u2060it was a win for the true believers following their dreadful display against the USA. The coach Gustavo Alfaro backed his no-frills squad \u200bto turn it around but his decision \u200bto bring in Galarza, who was unused against the USA, proved a masterstroke. After the midfielder\u2019s goal \u200bit was grit, determination and \u200ca generous dollop of \u200bluck that kept their tournament \u200balive.<\/p>\n

Not even a red card in first-half stoppage time could deny the South Americans, though their task was made harder by Miguel Almir\u00f3n\u2019s dismissal for remarks made to Muldur with his hand covering his mouth. Almir\u00f3n fell foul of a new rule, which was approved at a meeting of the International Football Association Board, the game\u2019s lawmakers, in April.<\/p>\n

Alfaro said his players had shown their mettle. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing about tactics or strategy here. This victory, this result is to the credit of the players,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Turkey arrived at their first World Cup in 24 years with great expectations and a host of rising…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-749185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}