Is Turkey Out of the World Cup? What the Paraguay Loss Means for Their Qualification Hopes

For the last match of Day 9 of the 2026 World Cup, Paraguay defeated Turkey 1-0 at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium. Both teams are in Group D, but now Turkey is the only team left in the group with no points.

It took Paraguay 71 seconds to take the lead over Turkiye in the first half. Paraguay midfielder Matias Galarza scored from outside the box to score the quickest goal of the 2026 World Cup so far.

Paraguay saw Morocco scored a goal in 71 seconds today and had to one up them pic.twitter.com/V3YG7j8IhI

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 20, 2026

Galarza did not play at all last week against the USMNT, and in 71 seconds, he made a huge impact for the Paraguay national team.

Paraguay is now on three points and is tied on points with Australia. Australia is 2nd in the group with 0 goal difference, and Paraguay is third with -2 goal difference. Paraguay is still alive in qualifying for the knockout stages.

This result does confirm that Turkey is knocked out of the 2026 World Cup despite having one game left to play in the group stage.

How is Turkey Knocked Out of the 2026 World Cup?

Turkey has lost their second game in the World Cup and after two matches played, remains on zero points.

With this result, Turkey can no longer qualify for the knockout stages of the 2026 World Cup. Turkey cannot finish higher than 4th even if they beat the USMNT next week.

The tiebreaker in the group stage is head-to-head, and Turkey has already lost to Australia and Paraguay, who are on three points. If Turkey beats the USMNT, they would go on three points, but they can't overtake Australia or Paraguay because they lost to both teams.

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This story was originally published June 19, 2026 at 10:06 PM.