The Turkey’s national team were mathematically eliminated from the 2026 World Cup after losing 1–0 to Paraguay in their second Group D match, confirming the worst-case scenarios that had emerged following their shocking defeat against Australia, when the Milli Takım lost 2–0, sparking fierce criticism of the Italian manager Vincenzo Montella.
Matías Galarza scored the only goal of the match just 64 seconds after kick-off at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium in Santa Clara (California). The Paraguayan midfielder caught everyone by surprise with a powerful left-footed strike from outside the box that proved impossible for Uğurcan Çakır to save, putting his side ahead right from the start of the match. The goal has already been recorded as the fastest goal of the World Cup so far.
Following their previous defeat to Australia on the tournament’s opening day, Turkey tried to respond and equalise, particularly through moves led by Arda Güler and Kenan Yıldız, but failed to score during the first half.
Almirón, first player sent off under the ‘Vinicius Rule’
Paraguay, however, suffered a major setback in first-half stoppage time, when the Salvadoran referee Iván Barton showed a straight red card following a VAR review to Miguel Almirón for addressing Mert Müldür whilst covering his mouth, marking the first-ever application of the new so-called ‘Vinicius Rule‘, which penalises this type of behaviour. As a result, the South American side played the remainder of the match with just 10 players.
With a numerical advantage, Turkey dominated the second half. Montella bolstered the attack by bringing on Barış Alper Yılmaz, Deniz Gül, Can Uzun, Eren Elmalı and Orkun Kökçü. However, just as had happened against Australia, the Turks were unable to convert their clear dominance on the pitch into goals. Chances created by Merih Demiral, Kenan Yıldız and Deniz Gül failed to find the net, whilst the Paraguayan defence held firm, maintaining their lead until the final whistle.
The Turkish players, in despair
The looks of despair on some of Turkey’s players were already evident as the minutes ticked by and they found themselves unable to score. With the final whistle, sadness took hold of the Turkish players, with footage showing defender Mert Müldür lying on the pitch and weeping inconsolably.
After returning to the World Cup 24 years later amid high expectations and excitement, Türkiye – which has suffered two consecutive defeats without scoring a single goal – sits bottom of Group D without any points and has mathematically lost any chance of finishing in the top two to progress to the next round, thus bidding farewell to the World Cup through the back door following a campaign best forgotten. Paraguay, for their part, secured their first victory of the tournament and now have 3 points.
If anything has been surprising, it is seeing how, against Paraguay, history has repeated itself as in the previous match against Australia, in which the Turks also overwhelmingly dominated the game in terms of possession and shots on goal, yet ended up losing 2–0. In the match played early this morning, Turkey maintained 78% possession compared to just 22% for the South American side, whom they also far outperformed in passing accuracy, quadrupling the Paraguayans’ number of passes and dominating in terms of shots on goal (33 for Türkiye compared to just 6 for Paraguay) and corner kicks (12 for the Turks, 0 for the Paraguayans). The figures speak for themselves, and are indisputable.
Calls for Vincenzo Montella’s resignation are mounting
However, the intense pressure exerted by Turkey for much of the match in search of an equaliser failed to convert all that dominance and effort into a goal, not even when their opponents played the entire second half with one man down, which raises many questions about what is going wrong with the Turkish national team.
Following the match, in fact, criticism and calls for Vincenzo Montella to resign have skyrocketed on social media, where thousands of fans have questioned his squad selection, the team’s approach on the pitch and the Italian manager’s tactical decisions.
After their defeat to Paraguay, Turkey now have only their final match of the World Cup group stage left to play against the United States: a difficult fixture that will be a mere formality of no real significance for the Turks, who can now only hope to bid farewell to the tournament with dignity and without disappointing their supporters any further.
VOTE
EDITORIAL TEAM
🧿 About us
.
Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
…
📣 Your ADVERTISING on Hispanatolia
.
🤗 HELP US WITH A DONATION:
💗 Paypal
