France survived the round of 16 match against Paraguay with a single goal by penalty converted by Kylian Mbappé, in a tough and often rough match in which the Paraguayan side, who successfully held Germany off, tried little to play good football and simply defend with a five-man defence: the South American team had only 24% ball possession, made just 175 passes (France did 553), and only one shot on target.
The frequent fouls against French players, particularly Mbappé, were rarely punished by the referee, something that has been the norm more often than not this World Cup (as it was also the case with the Spain vs. Uruguay). Only VAR warned the referee of a clear foul made against Desiré Doué, seconds after entering the match in place of Barcola, a tactical play be Deschamps that paid off.
Mbappé, visibly angry but proud after the match (cameras caught how he denied salute to Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill), did not hold off and said to reporters that "We've shown we're not just a team that knows how to play attacking football. If we have to get our hands dirty, we will do it. They thought we'd show up in tuxedos to play, but we know how to play dirty football too. We won and we were better than them."
Now, France will face Morocco in World Cup quarter-finals, on Thursday, July 9, at 22:00 CEST / 21:00 BST.
