PHILADELPHIA — In brutal summer heat that pushed temperatures past 100 degrees, France ground out a narrow 1-0 victory over a scrappy Paraguay side on Saturday, with Kylian Mbappe’s penalty kick proving the difference and sending the French into a World Cup quarter-final against Morocco.
The win marked Mbappe’s 19th World Cup goal in as many appearances, and it came at just the right time — preventing what could have been another stunning upset after Paraguay had already knocked out four-time champions Germany earlier in the tournament. Cape Verde had also nearly pulled off a miracle against Argentina the day before.
Speaking after the match, Mbappe didn’t mince words about the style of play. “We knew what kind of match we were going to have. If we have to get our hands dirty, we can do that. We can play ugly football. They thought we would turn up in tuxedos, but we were there,” he said.
“Even at that game, we were better than them. That’s their football — there is no right or wrong way to play the game. They tried to get at us that way, but we won,” Mbappe added.
France went into the contest without midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni, who was pulled just before kickoff with a muscle injury. Manu Kone stepped in alongside Adrien Rabiot in midfield, while Paraguay lined up in a defensive 5-4-1 formation, making it clear they had no intention of playing open football.
With the thermometer hitting 39 degrees Celsius — about 102 degrees Fahrenheit — the first half was a grinding, scoreless affair. Neither team managed a single shot on target before the break. Rabiot, Kone, and Ousmane Dembele each had attempts for France, while Julio Enciso was Paraguay’s only real threat going forward.
The second half brought more urgency from France, and the breakthrough finally came when substitute Desire Doue — who had entered the game in place of Bradley Barcola — was tripped inside the penalty area by Diego Gomez. After a review by the video assistant referee, official Ilgiz Tantashev pointed to the spot.
Mbappe stepped up and calmly sent goalkeeper Orlando Gill the wrong way in the 70th minute, notching his seventh goal of the tournament. The strike also moved him level with Lionel Messi on the all-time World Cup scoring list, just one goal behind the Argentine legend.
Paraguay refused to go quietly. Goalkeeper Mike Maignan was finally called upon in the 90th minute — his first save of the entire match — as the South Americans pushed forward and tried to create havoc near France’s penalty area in the closing moments.
France then endured a tense stoppage time after Mbappe was denied twice in rapid succession by Gill, but Les Bleus held on to secure the victory. The win sets up a quarter-final rematch with Morocco, the same opponent France eliminated in the semi-finals four years ago.
For Paraguay, it was a familiar story. They had hoped to settle an old score dating back to their 1998 last-16 loss to France — a match decided by Laurent Blanc’s golden goal — but their defensive approach once again left them without a reward.
