From selling clothes to buy food to World Cup hero

BarcelonaThroughout its history, Germany had only missed a single penalty in a World Cup shootout, way back in 1982. In five minutes, they missed three in Boston on the day Paraguay surprised by eliminating Julian Nagelsmann's team. And Orlando Gill (San Lorenzo, Paraguay, 2000) saved two of the penalties. A goalkeeper until recently unknown. A man who, five years ago, when he became a father, even sold the equipment his club gave him to pay for medical treatment for his baby. Five years later, he has become one of the best goalkeepers in the World Cup.

Born near the capital, Asunción, as a child he wanted to score goals and played as a midfielder. But because he was as tall as Saint Paul, he ended up being a goalkeeper with considerable skill. Gill played for San Lorenzo, his city's team, when, by chance, he was discovered by a scout from San Lorenzo, the Argentine club. Gill has always played for clubs with that name, San Lorenzo. First the Paraguayan one and then the Argentine one, where he arrived to play in the reserva, as the Argentinians call what would be the youth team. And he did quite well: he first became famous when he asked to take a free kick and scored a beautiful goal. He defends himself with his feet, since he had started as a midfielder.

San Lorenzo, one of the biggest clubs in Argentina, was going through a period of poor economic management when they signed him. For months, the players did not always get paid. But as presidential elections for the club were approaching, the board announced they would sign Keylor Navas, the veteran Costa Rican goalkeeper, former player for Madrid and PSG. It seemed Gill's door would be closed because the club already had a good goalkeeper, Facundo Altamirano. But he got injured just as Navas, seeing that San Lorenzo might not pay, decided not to sign. And Gill found himself playing an international competition match against Uruguayan Peñarol, and he did so well that president Marcelo Moretti stated in the press: "We will bet on Gill, whom we signed from the Second Division of Paraguay." A stroke of luck that, in turn, opened the door to the senior national team at 25 years old.

Marked by the past

Gill debuted with the national team on September 6, 2025, in Paraguay's 1-0 victory against Peru in the South American qualifiers. It was then that his wife, Melissa Ábalos, revealed a family secret. When he was still playing in Paraguay, Lautaro, their first child, had been born. The boy was born with a problem that required quite expensive medical treatment. It was the time when he was starting to be called up to the first team of San Lorenzo, but with a modest salary. "He sold training jerseys, boots, and gloves online. He even sold the jersey with which he had debuted with the Paraguayan U-19 team. He sold everything to help us, to buy food, because we invested everything in hospitals," Ávalos would explain. The boy, fortunately, recovered.

At 25 years old, Gill is now at the World Cup, where he received a lot of criticism after the defeat in the first match against the United States. One of the most critical was the considered best goalkeeper in the history of Paraguay, the eccentric José Luis Chilavert: "He doesn't talk, he plays mute. Football is communication, and even more so if you are a goalkeeper," he said, accusing him of being a fearful goalkeeper. Chilavert criticized both Gill and the coach, the Argentine Gustavo Alfaro. "He bets on a goalkeeper who doesn't bring calm, who has no character," he said. But in the first phase, Gill was one of the goalkeepers who made the most saves in three matches, a total of 17. And against Germany, he delivered a prodigious performance and made Paraguayan football history with his saves in the penalty shootout. Chilavert, it seems, was wrong. And now the boy who recently sold clothes to make money could end up with a millionaire salary in European football.

"We play against teams with players trained in the best academies, where nothing is lacking. We play with these kids raised playing barefoot on the red earth," said an emotional Alfaro, referring to the characteristic color of the earth in Paraguay, a humble country where football is so important that today the president has decreed a national holiday to celebrate an achievement by a group of young people with humble pasts. People like Orlando Gill.