You could feel the tension in the air. Paraguay had had two chances from the penalty spot against Germany to achieve the biggest victory in the country’s history and qualify for the Round of 16 of the . But missed penalties by Antonio Sanabria and Fabian Balbuena gave new hope to the Germans and brought back memories of past eliminations. Paraguay were close to glory against France in 1998 and Spain in South Africa 2010, but the outcome was the same each time: defeat.
With an entire nation on tenterhooks, Jose Canale walked up to the ball with the same expression he wore defending all afternoon long: no fear, no pomp, no drama. And he took the penalty as if this moment – one of the biggest in his country’s footballing history – were just another day at the office.
His powerful left-footed strike flew into the right side of the net, just below the crossbar, leaving a helpless Manuel Neuer with the best seat in the house as .
Canale, however, did not celebrate wildly and bask in the limelight. Instead, he let out a sigh of relief, opened his arms and was smothered by his teammates, who ran at him with the same urgency Paraguay had defended against every ball for 120 minutes. In a matter of seconds, a defender who had lived almost his entire life out of the spotlight was at the centre of a scene destined to be watched again and again for generations to come.
It wasn’t a name anyone expected. Until only recently, Canale wasn’t even in the running for the national team. Born in Itaugua, he got his start with Paraguay giants Libertad and went on to play for Nacional, Sol de America, Newell’s Old Boys, Godoy Cruz, Lanus and Queretaro – far removed from the limelight. The 29-year-old centre-back built a career on the fringes of football, step by step, until his breakthrough with Argentine side Lanus.
It was at Lanus, playing alongside the veteran Carlos Izquierdoz, where he developed into one of the best centre-backs in South American football. He was part of the team that won the Copa Sudamericana in 2025 and the Recopa Sudamericana in 2026 , scoring the winning goal against a powerful Flamengo side in the legendary Maracana stadium with two minutes left in extra time.
He said after that victory: “We’re not afraid of anyone. Today, we showed we’re a team of 11 lions. As a kid, I would play PlayStation and say: One day I’m going to score a goal at the Maracana.”
Canale has probably imagined a scenario like the one he found himself in against Germany a thousand times. What had seemed like just another impossible target for Gustavo Alfaro’s team of dream hunters became reality. The centre-back earned his first cap in March this year and got minutes in friendlies against Greece and Nicaragua. His consistent performances earned him a spot on the final 26-man roster for North America.
Alfaro said of him when announcing the squad: “Canale is an example of hard work and perseverance, of never giving up, of everything it takes to make his way in Argentinian football, climb the ladder and earn a call-up with heart and grit.”
Once at the World Cup, he only had a handful of minutes at the end of Paraguay’s victory against Turkey. Miguel Almiron was given a red card, and Alfaro brought on Gustavo Velazquez and Alexandro Maidana before he decided to bring in Canale in the 90th minute. With Omar Alderete, a key member of the team, ruled out due to a knee injury, Alfaro put his faith in Canale and decided to include him in the backline next to an imperious Gustavo Gomez.
Canale turned into the leader of the Paraguayan resistance. In his fourth match donning Paraguay’s red-and-white jersey, he stood firm as if he had been playing high-calibre opponents like Kai Havertz, Florian Wirtz, Leroy Sane, Deniz Undav, Jamal Musiala and Nick Woltemade all his life.
Alfaro’s men kept a low block around an omnipresent backline that Germany found hard to penetrate. Germany had possession, moving the ball from side to side, in an attempt to impose the weight of their footballing history, but Paraguay had a wall in front of them in the form of Gomez and Canale: unwavering on duels, vigilant in covering their team-mates’ backs and serene when it became more of a game of nerves than legs.
His penalty was the pinnacle of an unforgettable afternoon, the natural outcome of a performance in which he defended as if each tackle was worth a goal. In a national team accustomed to making a stiff upper lip a competitive advantage, Canale embodied it with almost perfect purity, dispelling the ghosts of the past with a shot that now forms part of his country’s great history.
Alfaro summed his performance up aptly afterwards: “Jose Canale played as if he had already played 100 matches with Paraguay.”
Sources: FIFA Official
