Italy lost to Bosnia on penalties and missed a third straight World Cup. Paraguay beat Germany from the spot. Here are the shootouts that decided the 2026 tournament, ranked by drama.

This guide covers paraguay vs germany: the shootout of the tournament, italy vs bosnia: the shootout that broke italy, the other shootouts that mattered, and how to win a shootout: what 2026 taught us. Each section explains the topic with concrete examples, so you can use what you learn straight away.

Paraguay beat Germany on penalties in the round of 32, with goalkeeper Orlando Gill saving Nick Woltemade's fourth penalty in Boston on 29 June. Gill finished the tournament with 28 saves, the most of any goalkeeper, and his shootout heroics sent Paraguay to the quarter-finals. It was the biggest upset of the knockout stage and the shootout every fan remembers from 2026.

Italy lost their World Cup playoff to Bosnia on penalties, missing a third consecutive World Cup after 2018 and 2022. The defeat came after Italy had beaten Northern Ireland in the playoff semi-final with goals from Tonali and Kean, raising hopes that the drought was over. For Italian fans, it was the cruellest ending possible: a shootout loss, the third absence in a row, and another four years of waiting.

Several knockout matches went to penalties in the expanded 48-team tournament, where more evenly matched teams met in the round of 32. Goalkeepers dominated the shootouts: alongside Gill, Emiliano Martínez's penalty-saving reputation helped Argentina survive tight knockout games on the way to the final. The data from 2026 confirmed what every fan knows: shootouts are not a lottery, because the same goalkeepers and the same takers keep winning them.

The winning teams in 2026 were the ones whose goalkeepers had studied the takers, with Gill's save on Woltemade coming from preparation, not luck. Teams that picked their five takers in advance and stuck to the order performed better than teams that improvised on the spot. The lesson for 2030 is simple: practise penalties all year, not the week before the tournament, because in a 48-team World Cup the shootout is no longer rare.