A shocking number for Turkey, inspired by the disappointing defeat against Paraguay sports

Paraguay faced Türkiye with ten players for more than a full half and defeated it 1-0, eliminating it from the group stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, on Friday in San Francisco.

Matias Galarza’s goal after 1 minute and 4 seconds became the fastest “victory goal” in World Cup history, surpassing Ismael Sibari’s record for Morocco earlier today, who scored after 1 minute and 10 seconds.

Since Denmark’s Zanka scored after 55 seconds against Croatia at the 2018 World Cup, no goal has been scored faster than Matias Galarza, who scored at 01:04 against Türkiye.

Matias Galarza became the first player since yellow cards were introduced in 1970 to score a goal and receive a yellow card before the 15th minute in a World Cup match.

Abdulkarim Bardakci completed all 98 passes he attempted against Paraguay, the most passes with 100% accuracy of any player in a World Cup match since 1966, surpassing Chris Richards’ tally of 84/84 against Paraguay earlier this tournament.

Türkiye had 78.6% of possession against Paraguay, the sixth highest number in a FIFA World Cup match since records began in 1966.

A shocking number for Turkey

The Turkish national team took 62 shots without scoring in its two World Cup matches, which is the highest number of shots for any team in two consecutive matches without scoring a goal since statistics began in 1966.

Of the last four times a team won a World Cup match despite having one of its players sent off in the first half, Paraguay was responsible for two of them: against Turkey today, and against Slovenia in 2002.

Paraguay has achieved 3 consecutive victories against UEFA sides in all competitions, including friendly matches, all by a score of 1-0: Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey.

Enciso…the distinguished dribbler

Julio Enciso completed 6 dribbles against Turkey, which is the most for any player in a single match in the 2026 World Cup so far, on par with Ivory Coast’s Amad Diallo against Ecuador. It is also the highest number for a Paraguayan player in the tournament since Miguel Angel Benitez completed 7 dribbles against Spain in 1998.

At the age of 22 years and 148 days, Julio Enciso became the youngest Paraguayan player to provide two assists in a FIFA World Cup since 1966; He is also only the third player from his country to register an assist in multiple matches in the tournament, after Francisco Arce (3) and Roque Santa Cruz (2).