France won tonight’s round of 16 at the Philadelphia Stadium.
The tricks did not go all the way for Paraguay.
– They resorted to all sorts of tricks, says France’s national team captain Didier Deschamps.
France took a superior 3-0 victory in the round of 16 against Sweden, but in the round of 16 against Paraguay there wasn’t as much beautiful play and nice goals.
France won 1–0.
Paraguay played physically and did everything to slow down the tempo. They were happy to lay down on the pitch to frustrate their French opponents when the game was called off.
In a situation Kylian Mbappé was beatenwithout action from the judges.
Decided by penalty
Despite Paraguay’s greedy tactics, France managed to “win” the statistics of yellow cards with 3-0. But France’s winning goal also came in the 70th minute.
Diego Gómez brought down Désiré Doué, who was awarded a penalty after a VAR review.
Before the penalty, Ousmane Dembélé stood at the penalty spot to protect it, but Paraguayan defender Gustavo Velázquez still managed to get forward and kick a few times at the penalty spot.
The missed penalty did not affect Kylian Mbappé, who netted the 19th World Cup goal of his career.
Protected Mbappé
Mbappé tried to laugh off the rough treatment from his opponents during the match.
– That’s their way of playing football. There is no right or wrong way to play football. They tried to beat us that way, but we won, Mbappé said RMC Sports.
France captain Didier Deschamps was afraid that Mbappé would be injured.
– I asked the two most robust players to stand around Kylian at the end, because the opponents were kicking him to pieces, says Deschamps.
He states that the match was not of high quality.
– They resorted to all sorts of tricks. It wasn’t exactly football that attracts audiences to the stands. But they defended well. It is always difficult to face this type of South American team, says Deschamps.
Paraguay’s destructive football saw from several sides.
– This Paraguayan team was a complete disgrace. I would have dragged my teammates off the field if they played like this, says the expert Joe Hart in the BBC.
Criticism of the referee
The Uzbek head referee Ilgiz Tantashev was also criticized after the match. In SVT’s studio, referee expert Jonas Eriksson was sure that Tantashev has refereed his last match in the 2026 World Cup.
– Protect those who actually want to play. Those who want to create something constructive. It is incomprehensible that this is happening in the round of 16 in a world championship, says Eriksson.
France’s quarter-final against Morocco will be played at 22:00 on 9 July.
