FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) 鈥� Orlando Gill knew Paraguay was a big underdog against Germany in their knockout-round opener.
Heck, he was even a little starstruck himself.
But the 26-year-old goalkeeper, appearing in his first World Cup, bested German great Manuel Neuer in a penalty shootout to help La Albirroja
鈥淚t showed that you shouldn鈥檛 speak too soon,鈥� Gill said after helping the 5-to-1 underdogs advance to the Round of 16. 鈥淭his proves that Paraguay is capable of achieving great things. The opportunity was bound to come sooner or later.鈥�
A 6-foot-6 monolith who plays for Argentine club San Lorenzo, Gill helped Paraguay reach the knockout round with clean sheets in a 1-0 group victory over Turkey and a 0-0 draw with Australia.
But Gill, who also gave up four goals to the United States in the group stage, would need to be even better against the powerful Germans, who possessed the ball more than twice as long as Paraguay and attempted 21 shots on goal to Paraguay’s seven.
鈥淚t was like a horror movie. Germans were popping up everywhere,鈥� Gill said. 鈥淓ven I still can鈥檛 believe it.鈥�
And backing them up was Neuer, who was playing in his fifth World Cup, having led Germany to the 2014 championship 鈥� finishing third in the Ballon d鈥橭r balloting that year behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi 鈥� and taken Bayern Munich to two Champions League titles and 13 Bundesliga championships.
鈥淣euer is a world-class goalkeeper,鈥� Gill said. 鈥淚 shared a shootout with him, and he managed to save a penalty, too. I have nothing but respect for an idol like him.鈥�
Gill made one mistake in regulation, allowing Kai Havertz鈥檚 equalizer in the 54th minute. Another German goal 鈥� the potential game-winner 鈥� was disallowed in the 12th minute of extra time after a video review determined that Waldemar Anton interfered with Gill to clear a path for Jonathan Tah鈥檚 would-be score.
And when it came to the penalty kicks, Gill earned his trophy as the man of the match.
Gill gave Paraguay the edge when he stopped the first attempt of the shootout from Havertz 鈥� throwing out his right arm to deflect the ball. Paraguay made its first three kicks to take a 3-2 lead before Gill made another save, this time on Nick Woltemade.
That meant Paraguay only needed to make one of its last two kicks to win it.
But Antonino Sanabria sent the ball wide to the left, and Neuer stopped Fabian Balbuena to send the shootout into sudden death. Tah went over the crossbar before Jose Canale beat Neuer to win it.
鈥淣ow, with a cool head, I鈥檓 going to sit down and analyze what we鈥檝e achieved,鈥� said Gill, whose next match will be on Saturday in Philadelphia against France or Sweden. 鈥淲e managed to hold on until the 120th minute, and luck was on our side during the shootout.鈥�
For Germany, the loss continues a streak of disappointment that now includes elimination in the group stage of the last two World Cups and one in the Round of 32. It has not won a knockout game since the 2014 final.
鈥淵ou talk about expectations: It is 11 or 12 years and we have come up short,鈥� Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not enough for German football.鈥�
Midfielder Nadiem Amiri said the team was filled with good young players 鈥� reason to be optimistic for the future.
鈥淏ut in the moment to think about the future is, I think, the wrong decision,鈥� Amiri said. 鈥淚 feel for everybody, very sad. It was a shocking end from the game. At the moment, it鈥檚 very difficult to find the right words.鈥�
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