Turkey 0-1 Paraguay: FIFA World Cup Match Report

One goal, scored in the first half, and Group D was effectively decided by it. Turkey 0-1 Paraguay was 0-1 at the break and never moved, and that single strike turned out to be Paraguay's second and last goal of the World Cup.

Turkey came into the match with nothing: beaten 2-0 by Australia on the opening weekend, no points, no goals. By full time here they had gone a hundred and eighty minutes without scoring. Paraguay had been beaten 4-1 by the United States and needed a response of exactly this kind — a low-scoring, low-risk win that repaired the points column without exposing them further.

The economy of it is remarkable in hindsight. Paraguay scored twice in three matches and conceded four, a return that in most groups gets a team eliminated without argument. Here it was enough, because the two goals were distributed to maximum effect: one in a heavy defeat that cost nothing, one in a match that was worth three points.

Paraguay moved to four points, drew 0-0 with Australia on the final day and reached the Round of 32, where they met France. Their 2:4 record was the weakest of any qualifier from the group, and the whole of their qualification rests on the goal scored in this match. Without it they finish on a single point.

Turkey finished bottom of Group D on three points with a 3:5 record. In an expanded tournament that carried thirty-two of forty-eight teams out of the group stage, going home was a genuine achievement in the wrong direction, and it was this match rather than any of the others that produced it. They beat the United States 3-2 in the final round — all three of their tournament goals arriving in the one match that could no longer change anything — while Paraguay and Australia finished level on four points and both went through. Turkey's elimination was sealed here, not against the Americans.

Our pre-match call was Double Chance 1X (Turkey or Draw) at 1.42. It lost, and the reason is not defensive. Turkey conceded once, which against a side that scored twice in the whole group is a perfectly acceptable night's work. A double chance needs the covered team to score or to keep a clean sheet, and Turkey managed neither. We backed them to at least take a point without having seen any evidence that they could put the ball in the net; the evidence arrived six days later, in a match that no longer counted for anything. Verdict: lost