Paraguay, playing the entire second half with 10 men, held on to a 1-0 victory over Turkey in Group D of the 2026 World Cup. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The match took place on June 20 at Levi's Stadium in San Francisco. Matias Galarza, a midfielder for Atlanta United, opened the scoring in the 2nd minute with a 25-meter strike that caught Trabzonspor goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir off guard.
Just before halftime, Salvadoran referee Ivan Barton, following a VAR review, sent off Paraguay's Miguel Almiron for speaking with his hand covering his mouth, in line with FIFA's latest referee guidelines.
Despite having a numerical advantage for 45 minutes, Turkey failed to score. Paraguay's compact defense and occasional counterattacks kept them at bay, securing a 1-0 win.
This defeat eliminated Turkey from playoff contention. Even if they beat the USA on June 26, they cannot finish higher than fourth due to head-to-head losses to Australia and Paraguay.
The second round of Group D began with the USA defeating Australia 2-0. The hosts, following Mexico, have already won the group, leaving the other three teams to compete for second and third place.
The 23rd FIFA World Cup final tournament started on June 11 and will end on July 19. It is the first to be held in three countries (USA, Canada, Mexico) and the first with 48 teams. After the group stage, the top two from each group and the eight best third-placed teams advance to the round of 32.