"The most beautiful day of my life": Paraguay's heroes rejoice after their sensational victory at the World Cup
Julio Enciso and goalkeeper Orlando Gill were the heroes of Paraguay's sensational victory over Germany in the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup.
After Paraguay's historic victory over Germany, Julio Enciso dedicated this success to his late grandfather. The striker, who scored the first goal in the match, was moved after the match and called this victory "the most beautiful day of his life." "Today I immediately thought of my grandfather. We always watched Paraguay's matches together," said an emotional Enciso in an interview with DSports. "I blew a kiss to the sky. I'm sure he's proud of me. It was without a doubt the most beautiful day of my life. This day was a gift from God." Another great hero, goalkeeper Orlando Gill, saved shots from Kai Havertz and Nik Woltemade in the penalty shootout, so he also had a key role in this success. "This is the result of all the sacrifices we made every day in training," Gill said after the match. "There has been a lot of talk lately. Some people thought that we had already qualified for the quarter-finals. But in football you can't be happy too early." Gill had to make several interventions in this match and felt pressure from the German attackers. "It was a real horror story. The Germans attacked us from all sides with their stars," recalls the goalkeeper. "I still can't believe what we have achieved as a team. I am extremely happy, as are all the Paraguayans who believed in us." Gill also kept his cool in the penalty shootout, even though Paraguay wasted a penalty at the beginning. "Anything can happen in a penalty shootout: you can save, you can hit or not. But even after the first eleven wasted, I was sure that one of my teammates would score." The numbers also confirm that Gill was the hero of this match. In the last three games that ended in penalties, he saved 16 of 17 shots fired at his goal. Moreover, in the entire tournament he has conceded only one goal, while the expected number of goals he should have conceded was 4.72. For Gill himself, the sensational elimination of the Germans is the greatest success of his career. "This is the most important moment of my career: eliminating a team that won the World Cup, like Germany, from the tournament."
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