Julio Enciso put Paraguay ahead of Germany in the 42nd minute Monday, heading home against the run of play to send Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, into a frenzy and flip the FIFA World Cup Round of 32 match entirely on its head.
Germany dominated possession, holding roughly 78% of the ball and generating multiple early chances through Deniz Undav, Florian Wirtz, and Kai Havertz, but never found the clinical finishing to show for any of it. Paraguay sat deep, absorbed pressure with discipline, and struck when it counted.
Enciso’s Goal Against Germany: How It Happened
GettyParaguay’s midfielder #19 Julio Enciso scores his team’s first goal during the 2026 World Cup round of 32 football match between Germany and Paraguay at the Boston Stadium in Foxborough on June 29, 2026.
Paraguay earned a corner on the right side through Miguel Almirón. Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer came to punch the initial delivery clear, but Juan Cáceres produced a sharp sliding tackle that kept the ball alive in a threatening area, according to ESPN.
Almirón and Matías Galarza combined quickly, with Galarza delivering a precision cross into the German box. Enciso timed his run perfectly, rose above the defensive line, and headed the ball past Neuer. The goal registered an expected goals value of just 0.06, a low-probability chance converted with surgical precision at the highest-stakes moment of Paraguay’s tournament.
Germany had zero shots on target through the entire first half despite their dominance in every other statistical category. Four-time world champions, with the ball almost exclusively at their feet, found themselves trailing a counter-attacking South American side at halftime of a do-or-die knockout match.
Enciso had already supplied assists on both of Paraguay’s group-stage goals before Monday. This was something categorically different, a decisive header in a World Cup elimination match against one of the pre-tournament favorites, according to The Athletic. For Paraguay, holding or extending that lead would mean a historic advance into the Round of 16 and one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history.
Julio Enciso’s Career: Caaguazú to the World Cup
GettyJulio Enciso of Paraguay.
Born Jan. 23, 2004, in Caaguazú, Paraguay, Enciso broke through at 15 years old with Club Libertad, becoming the club’s youngest-ever first-team debutant. He went on to become the youngest player to score in the Copa Libertadores in the 21st century, finding the net at 16 years and 307 days old.
Brighton & Hove Albion signed him for £9.5 million in June 2022. His first full Premier League season produced one of the most memorable individual moments of that campaign — a long-range strike against Manchester City that earned him both the Premier League Goal of the Season and BBC Goal of the Season awards. A serious knee injury in 2023 interrupted his momentum, and he completed his Brighton tenure with 44 league appearances and four goals total.
A loan spell at Ipswich Town in 2025 added two more goals in 13 appearances. RC Strasbourg then signed him permanently for approximately £17 million last September, and he has continued developing in Ligue 1 since the transfer.
Enciso made his international debut for Paraguay in June 2021, becoming the fourth-youngest player in national team history. He entered Monday’s match with 35 caps and four international goals, having scored previously in the 2024 Copa América and in World Cup qualifying against Bolivia, Colombia, and Uruguay.
Monday’s header was his first-ever World Cup goal, and it came in a knockout-stage match. At 22, on the biggest stage his sport offers, he delivered the most consequential moment of his career and one of the most dramatic in the history of Paraguayan football.
Who is Julio Enciso? Paraguay Star Stuns Germany With Unexpected World Cup Goal