There were furious celebrations when France secured their quarter‑final place. The entire squad charged from the centre spot to the end of the Philadelphia Stadium where the core of French support was gathered. There was a pile-on, there was roaring and chests were actively thumped. Leading the proceedings, as ever, was Kylian Mbappé.
As soon as the revelry had subsided, the France captain turned to the TV cameras and framed the narrative of the game. This had been less of a match and more of a battle, he said, against a Paraguay side who had nagged, nibbled and, occasionally, smashed their way through proceedings. “We knew what kind of match we were going to have,” Mbappé said. “But we know how to get our hands dirty.”
“France beat Paraguay 1-0 via Mbappe penalty in unconvincing World Cup quarter-final display.”
The World Cup favourites had needed a second-half penalty from their talisman – his only shot on target in an unconvincing display – to edge past a stubborn Paraguay side in Philadelphia. It was the least convincing performance by the French at this World Cup. They didn’t register a shot on target until the 55th minute and had only one more – the winning penalty – before a final attacking flourish led to Mbappé being denied by the Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill on three occasions in an extended period of added time.
France recorded the fewest shots on target and the lowest expected goals (xG) of their tournament, penalty included. Paraguay, reverting to a five‑man back line and with a narrow midfield four placed just in front, limited the spaces to such an extent that even Michael Olise was unable to thread the eye of the needle. Ousmane Dembelé struggled in the game, as did Bradley Barcola. There was no point in the match at which they were suddenly able to raise their level, as in previous games, and a general air of disjointedness will have proven intriguing viewing for Morocco, France’s next opponents, who are a…
Back in the belly of the stadium, Didier Deschamps gave a less impassioned assessment of what had gone on. “It was a tough game but, as I said to the players, we’ve had easy games so far. It is good to face a tough one,” he said. “I have prepared the players, they were expecting this game. I do not want to criticise Paraguay; each team plays the way they want. We looked at playing football but the opponent did what they wanted to do. Playing low block requires less effort. But even in today’s heat we should have played faster in transition.”