Man down, Paraguay defeats Turkey 1-0
Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill (12) and Isidro Pitta (25) clear the ball during the World Cup Group D soccer match between Turkey and Paraguay last Friday in Santa Clara, Calif., near San Francisco. (AP Photo)
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Matias Galarza scored 65 seconds into the game for the fastest goal at this year’s World Cup and Paraguay held on for a 1-0 win over Turkey on Friday after playing a man down for more than half the match. The win assured the United States would win Group D and eliminated Turkey from any chance of advancing to the knockout round with its second straight loss. Paraguay will face Australia in the final match of the group stage next Thursday with second place in the group on the line. Paraguay will need to win to finish second. “It’s unforgettable,” Galarza said. “This is the most beautiful stage in the world, playing amongst the best. I’m so proud. I hope that Paraguay is happy.” Paraguay was short-handed after Miguel Almiron was issued a red card late in the first half for violating a new rule banning players from covering their mouth during a confrontation. But goalkeeper Orlando Gill made several key saves to preserve the lead in a game when Turkey 32-7 edge in shot attempts at goal. “It was very hard,” midfielder Andres Cubas said. “These games are very tough, especially one man down. We have to highlight the great group effort and commitment we showed as a team to keep fighting and do this until the end.” BRAZIL 3, HAITI 0 PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Matheus Cunha struck the back of the net and struck a pose, bringing scoring — and a dash of surfing — to the World Cup stage for Brazil. Vinícius Júnior scored and assisted on one of Cunha’s two goals as five-time champion Brazil eliminated Haiti from the World Cup with a 3-0 victory on Friday night. “To be at a World Cup, to imagine that, it can be so wonderful,” Cunha said. “It’s a dream fulfilled.” Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation that qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1974, became the first team guaranteed not to reach the knockout round of the expanded 48-team tournament. Meanwhile, the Seleção got the decisive performance they needed. “It was what I expected from this match,” coach Carlo Ancelotti said. Ancelotti also said Neymar is expected to return from a right calf injury and play for Brazil next week against Scotland in its final group match. Neymar, Brazil’s career scoring leader with 79 goals, missed the first two games. MOROCCO 1, SCOTLAND 0 FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — It took Ismael Saibari only 21 minutes to score a goal for Morocco in his World Cup debut. Barely a minute was enough time for him to get on the scoreboard in his second outing. Saibari drilled a shot into the top corner of the net a mere 72 seconds into Friday’s 1-0 win over Scotland at Gillette Stadium, keeping alive Morocco’s chances of advancing to its second straight World Cup knockout round. “We wanted three points and we got them,” Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said. Morocco’s ball movement caught Scotland on its heels at the very start. Saibari slipped behind two Scotland defenders and Brahim Diaz dropped the ball over the top to him. The 25-year-old forward gathered and blasted it into the top left corner, well outside the reach of goalkeeper Angus Gunn. SATURDAY JAPAN 4, TUNISIA 0 MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — Japan moved one step closer to reaching the knockout stages of the World Cup for the fourth consecutive time after pummeling Tunisia 4-0 in Group F, securing a milestone victory in the tournament’s 1,000th men’s match. Japan’s four goals were the most the Samurai Blue have ever scored in a World Cup game, as it comfortably dismantled a Tunisia side that became the first to ever fire its coach after the opening match. Ayase Ueda scored twice, along with Daichi Kamada and Junya Itō to put Japan level with the Netherlands on four points. The Dutch are currently on top of the group due to having scored one more goal than Japan across its two matches. Even after leading 2-0 just over half an hour into the match, Japan continued to apply pressure to a disjointed Tunisian defense. “If we are able to get as many goals as possible, that would give the team confidence,” said Hajime Moriyasu, the first head coach to lead Japan at consecutive World Cups. “That is something we would definitely want to repeat against Sweden.” The loss for Tunisia means it is eliminated from the tournament. Japan is guaranteed at least third in the group, which could be enough to advance to the knockout stages. GERMANY 2, IVORY COAST 1 TORONTO (AP) — An hour into the game, Germany was getting outplayed by Ivory Coast and trailed by a goal. Coach Julian Nagelsmann needed a spark and substituted in three fresh players, one of whom was Deniz Undav. That decision paid off big time. Undav scored twice as Germany defeated Ivory Coast 2-1 on Saturday and clinched a spot in the knockout phase at the World Cup. “It’s important that everyone sees that even the players from the bench can decide games,” said Undav, who also scored in Germany’s 7-1 opening match rout of Curacao. “Now we have a really important signal to the team. I think that’s very important in a game like this.” Four minutes into stoppage time, Undav received a pass from Felix Nmecha in front of the net and rifled it past Ivory Coast goalkeeper Yahia Fofana to give the Germans a comeback win. It was the German national team’s 11th straight win, a streak dating to September 2025. Undav’s first goal of the match came after Nadiem Amiri sent in a long ball – that striker Kai Havertz let pass him by – onto the boot of Undav, who slammed it into the back of the net in the 68th minute. Both Amiri and Undav had subbed on eight minutes earlier. CURACAO 0, ECUADOR 0 KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Curacao better make some room for a new national hero. Eloy Room delivered for his tiny Caribbean nation one of the finest performances in World Cup history on Saturday night, making 15 saves against a relentless Ecuador attack and helping The Blue Wave earn its first-ever point with a 0-0 draw against La Tri. The outcome also allowed Germany, which beat Ivory Coast earlier in the day, to clinch Group E. “It’s going to be an insane memory,” said Room, who plays for USL Championship club Miami FC. “You don’t think about it when you do it but of course it’s going to be something you look back to. For me as a goalkeeper, this is almost a perfect game.” The 37-year-old Room, whose shutout of Jamaica last November sent Curacao to its first World Cup, bounced back in historic fashion from a 7-1 loss to Germany. His save total was one shy of the record — since saves became an official stat in 1966 — of 16 set by Tim Howard of the U.S. against Belgium on July 1, 2014, in a game that Room remembers watching. Howard needed 120 minutes for his total, though. Nobody has made more saves than Room without extra time. “I think I need a statue in Curacao now,” he said with a smile. The draw doesn’t eliminate either team from knockout play, but it put Ecuador in dire shape going into its group finale. Those matches take place Thursday with Curacao facing Ivory Coast in Philadelphia and Ecuador playing Germany in New York. NETHERLANDS 5, SWEDEN 1 HOUSTON (AP) — Under intense pressure after an opening-game draw, the Netherlands delivered a dominant performance against Sweden in the World Cup on Saturday to move atop the Group F standings. Brian Brobbey and Cody Gakpo scored two goals apiece to power Netherlands to the 5-1 win. Brobbey’s goals came in the first half, helping the Netherlands get off to a great start and roll to the big win after playing Japan to a 2-2 draw Sunday. The victory gives Netherlands a group-leading four points. Sweden has three points, with Japan and Tunisia scheduled to play later Saturday. “It could be that the way we played builds confidence,” Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman said. “Now we’ve got a slightly better piece of mind with the four points. You can build on what happened now and that’s really good.” Gakpo, who also had an assist, extended the lead to 3-0 just after halftime, scoring in the 47th minute off a cross from Denzel Dumfries. He matched Brobbey when he scored on a right-footed shot from the left box in the 54th minute. “Today there was more variation in attacking play, more players in different positions, movement and all those things,” Gakpo said. “So it was maybe more difficult for the defenders to really mark us and we became free in in the box. I think that was the little thing maybe we missed in the last game.” SUNDAY SPAIN 4, SAUDI ARABIA 0 ATLANTA (AP) — Welcome to the World Cup, Lamine Yamal. Welcome to the World Cup, Spain. Teenage superstar Yamal scored 10 minutes into his first start on soccer’s biggest stage and Spain kickstarted its campaign with the 4-0 demolition of Saudi Arabia on Sunday. The 18-year-old forward slid in at the far post to touch home a low cross for the opening goal in Atlanta. He became the eighth youngest scorer in World Cup history and more importantly settled Spanish nerves after the team was held to a surprise 0-0 draw by Cape Verde in its opening game. In a tournament that has already seen Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane get off to flying starts, Yamal’s strike saw him join the party. The Barcelona winger is already considered one the world’s top players and helped Spain win the European Championship in 2024 despite being just 16 years old when the tournament started. He is tipped to take over from Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the sport’s biggest star but came into the World Cup with questions over his fitness after he missed the end of the season with a hamstring injury. Yamal, who was only used as a second-half substitute against Cape Verde, was thrown in from the start against Saudi Arabia and wasted no time in making his presence felt. He had already repeatedly sliced through the Saudi defense before turning home Mikel Oyarzabal’s cross. A full house at Atlanta Stadium was mainly filled with Spain fans who had roared in celebration just at the sight of Yamal emerging for the pre-game warm up. And the cheers were even louder as he raced away to celebrate his goal, dropping to his knees, praying and kissing the turf. It was just the impact Spain coach Luis de la Fuente wanted from his star player, having been inundated with questions about when Yamal would be ready to start. Those questions felt even more anxious after Spain, one of the pre-tournament favorites, was shut out by Cape Verde. After all, Spain has failed to advance beyond the round of 16 since lifting the World Cup in 2010, winning just three games during that run. But Yamal’s opener sparked a flurry of first-half goals. Oyarzabal, who was criticized for not touching the ball at all in the first 30 minutes against Cape Verde, not only provided the assist for Yamal, but scored two more with close range strikes in the 21st and 24th. So dominant was Spain’s lead that De la Fuente had seen enough and took both his scorers off at halftime. Inside four minutes of the second half, the lead was extended when Marc Cucurella’s shot rebounded off Hassan Altambakti for an own goal.