Germany Stunned, Brazil Survive, and Dembele Announces Himself

A rich day of World Cup football produced two of the tournament's most significant results so far. Germany are out, eliminated by Paraguay on penalties in a shootout that will haunt them — Kai Havertz, Nick Woltemade and Jonathan Tah all missing from the spot to send one of the game's great footballing nations home earlier than anyone expected. It was the kind of exit that generates soul-searching, and the result will be dissected for some time.

Brazil survived their own scare in Houston, where Mainz midfielder Kaishu Sano gave Japan a stunning lead before Gabriel Martinelli's stoppage-time winner eventually settled a 2-1 nervy victory for Carlo Ancelotti's side. Japan pushed a World Cup favourite to the very edge. Meanwhile, Ousmane Dembele's hat-trick against Norway offered France a different kind of headline — the suggestion, finally, that his club brilliance at PSG has found its international expression at the right moment in the tournament.

Off the pitch, Enzo Maresca completed a move to Manchester City after compensation was agreed with Chelsea, while Robert Lewandowski's arrival at Chicago Fire confirmed one of the more eye-catching MLS signings in recent memory. In South Korea, the national coach resigned following World Cup elimination, with the country's president calling for a formal investigation into the campaign.