Paraguay declares national holiday after World Cup win over Germany

Orlando Gill knew Paraguay was a big underdog against Germany in their World Cup 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 send the four-time World Cup champions home -- and earn the people of his native Paraguay a national holiday on Tuesday.

"It showed that you shouldn't speak too soon," Gill said after helping the 5-to-1 underdogs advance to the Round of 16. "This proves that Paraguay is capable of achieving great things. The opportunity was bound to come sooner or later."

The 6-foot-6 Gill, who plays for Argentine club San Lorenzo, helped Paraguay reach the knockout round with clean sheets in a 1-0 group victory over Türkiye 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.

"It was like a horror movie. Germans were popping up everywhere," Gill said. "Even I still can't believe it."

And backing them up was Neuer, who was playing in his fifth World Cup, having led Germany to the 2014 championship -- finishing third in the Ballon d'Or balloting that year behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi -- and taken Bayern Munich to two Champions League titles and 13 Bundesliga championships.

"Neuer is a world-class goalkeeper," Gill said. "I shared a shootout with him, and he managed to save a penalty, too. I have nothing but respect for an idol like him."

Gill made one mistake in regulation, allowing Kai Havertz's equalizer in the 54th minute. Another German goal -- the potential game-winner -- 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's 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 -- 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 Fabián Balbuena to send the shootout into sudden death. Tah went over the crossbar before José Canale beat Neuer to win it.

"Now, with a cool head, I'm going to sit down and analyze what we've achieved," said Gill, whose next match will be on Saturday in Philadelphia against France or Sweden. "We managed to hold on until the 120th minute, and luck was on our side during the shootout."

Later on Monday, Paraguay President Santiago Peña declared Tuesday as a national holiday for the country following the historic win.

"In recognition of the historic victory of the Paraguayan national football team over Germany, an authorized national holiday is declared for June 30," the country's leader wrote in a decree.

-ESPN