They have been nothing short of magnifique at this World Cup, but France were forced to grind out a narrow victory over Paraguay in the sweltering Philadelphia heat, thanks to Kylian Mbappe’s second-half penalty.
The World Cup favourites had plundered at least three goals in each of their prior games, and probably thought they had been handed a favourable proposition after Paraguay stunned Germany in the round of 16 to kill a potential clash of the heavyweights. Instead, Paraguay went from heroes to villains with an aggressive, unapologetic approach to try and unsettle France.
“Kylian Mbappe's second-half penalty secures France a 1-0 win over Paraguay in a testy World Cup last-16 clash.”
In an absorbing first half, Paraguay smothered France’s superstars, restricting Mbappe, Michael Olise and co to an expected goals of just 0.15. They did enough to keep their far more fancied foes on their toes without laying siege to Mike Maignan’s goal. Ousmane Dembele drilled into the side netting from an acute angle after the break, and Orlando Gill produced a sublime save to thwart Manu Kone.
The decisive moment came when Desire Doue took matters into his own hands, twisting and jiving through red and white shirts before being brought down by Diego Gomez. Mbappe did the rest from 12 yards, stuttering and sending Gill the wrong way to tie Lionel Messi on seven goals apiece in the Golden Boot race. Only a top-class double save from Gill prevented the Real Madrid striker from notching another in added time.
Tempers flared after the goal as Paraguay’s players, as they had all game, attempted to bludgeon their opponents into submission. Mbappe found himself on the receiving end of some rough treatment. But France kept their cool, and the victory books their place in the quarter-finals, keeping alive their hopes of matching Argentina’s triumph of four years ago.