FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — It’s official: Germany are no longer a soccer superpower. Playing in their first FIFA World Cup knockout game for 12 years, the four-time winners were beaten by Paraguay on penalties on Monday after a stale 1-1 draw at Boston Stadium.

Germany have never before lost a World Cup penalty shootout, but this is a shadow of the teams from their illustrious past. The players from 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014 would have found a way to win against a Paraguay team who were thrashed 4-1 by the United States in their opening group game and only reached the last 32 as the seventh of eight-best third-place qualifiers.

That Germany arrived here in the conversation as possible winners was only because of what they’ve achieved before. Julian Nagelsmann’s version of Die Mannschaft is a pale imitation.

The truth is that even had they scraped through here, their World Cup would have ended abruptly against France in the next round anyway. Maybe the shock of losing to Paraguay will be enough to jolt a reaction out of a once-famous national team that has endured a miserable decade at this tournament following group-stage exits in 2018 and 2022.

“If you exit after the first stage, it’s not enough for German football,” Nagelsmann said. “This is now the third elimination in a row so we are not part of the first-class teams any more.”

While Germany contemplate one of their worst-ever World Cup results, Paraguay enjoyed perhaps their best. And whatever happens to the South Americans for the rest of this tournament they will always have Boston.

Paraguay had never scored a World Cup knockout goal before facing Germany here. Not only did Julio Enciso do that, Paraguay followed it up with a determined, dogged defensive display to reach the last 16. It was fitting that José Canale scored the winning spot kick after spending most of the second half and extra time throwing himself in front of shot after shot.

When the final penalty hit the net, there were tears in the stands from fans wearing red and white. Germany, who arrived with high expectations, slumped to their knees in the center circle.

The postmortem after this tournament will not be kind to Nagelsmann’s side.

“Probably we need to do a big change, we will see,” said the former Bayern Munich coach. “We need some solutions for the future. I won’t go into details today but there are some things that need to be changed.”

Paraguay, on the other hand, have already won.

Maybe it’s Kylian Mbappé and France next, but it doesn’t matter. A team that beat Brazil and Argentina in qualifying have added another historic result to their CV. Paraguay fans will never forget where they were when they beat Germany at the World Cup.

While Paraguay move on, the fallout for Germany begins now.

No one scored more than their 10 goals in the first round and they finished top of Group E, but there was still a sense that this was coming. There were worrying spells in all three group games against Curaçao, Ivory Coast and particularly in the defeat to Ecuador.

Nagelsmann argued that Germany had enough chances to beat Paraguay and branded the decision to rule out Jonathan Tah’s header in extra time after a VAR check “a joke,” but this was no smash and grab. Paraguay deservedly led at halftime and largely kept Germany in check, aside from Kai Havertz’s equalizer.

There was criticism of Nagelsmann and his players before this game, and there is more on the way. Much more.

The first half in particular was dire.

At his news conference on Sunday, Nagelsmann described Paraguay as “an uncomfortable opponent,” and that’s exactly what they were. Gustavo Alfaro’s team defended deep and stayed compact. Every stoppage was dragged out for as long as possible.

Germany struggled to cope with the lack of flow, and it was Paraguay who made the most of their rare forays forward. The first was after just 30 seconds and Manuel Neuer — whose place in the team has been repeatedly questioned at home — was forced into a save from Júnior Alonso.

Paraguay barely crossed the halfway line again until just before halftime. Matías Galarza’s clever overlapping run was followed by a whipped cross into the box, which Enciso headed in.

One of the worries for this Germany team before the tournament was their defending, and they failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their four games. At the other end, their 0.14 expected goals in the first half was their second lowest in a World Cup knockout game in the past 60 years — all despite having nearly 80% possession.

The pace of Germany’s attacking in the first 45 minutes suggested they were struggling to deal with Boston’s mid-afternoon heat. It picked up in the second half, when Joshua Kimmich moved into midfield, but Paraguay were never stretched to breaking point. Frustration had already begun to seep in long before the penalties began.

And where historically the Germans are near faultless from the spot, there was a lack of confidence from some of their takers. Havertz and Nick Woltemade both had their efforts saved by Orlando Gil.

Paraguay missed two chances to seal the win, but when Tah stepped up with the chance to shift momentum back toward Germany, he skied his kick into the Boston sunset. Canale, outstanding all game, made no mistake with Paraguay’s third chance to win.

Nagelsmann was quickly back out to face the music.

“Will you continue as coach,” came the inevitable question. “I would like to,” he said before walking away.

It won’t be the last time he faces questions about his future in the days and weeks to come. Germany couldn’t find any answers against Paraguay and now the recriminations begin.