For nearly three quarters of the game, Paraguay contained tournament favorite France with a three-pronged plan: defend, disrupt, and irritate.
The underdog squad, which finished third in Group D before upsetting Germany, started with a five-man defensive block on the back line.
The players were content to play without the ball for as long as possible, remaining in their own end, allowing the ball to often go out of bounds, forcing restarts, and disrupting any French momentum.
They also tried to get under France’s skin, committing fouls on and off the ball, tugging opponents’ jerseys—anything that might cause French players to lose their cool on the 98-degree afternoon in Philadelphia.
Just ahead of the second-half hydration break, France had 10 shots but only one on target, 10 corner kicks, most of the ball possession, and zero goals.
That changed when substitute Desire Doué was surrounded by three defenders and, as confirmed by the video-assistant referee, tripped in Paraguay’s penalty box.
Paraguay players even tried to cleat a divot on the penalty spot marker to create an uneven surface for shooter Kylian Mbappe, to no avail. He began a slow run to the ball, stutter-stepped to send Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill left, and then placed a low shot into the right corner of the net.
With that, M’bappe tied Argentina’s Lionel Messi for most goals in this tournament so far, with seven, and remains only one behind Messi for most total World Cup goals, with 19.
France headed into this game with the most dangerous offense in the competition so far, with 13 goals for and only two against.
But instead of lighting up the scoreboard and providing the packed Philadelphia stadium with some early fireworks, the French struggled against a very stingy Paraguay defense.
France had better chances when its opponent put more players forward for the last 20 minutes, but Gill, who saved two penalty shots to beat Germany in the round of 32, delivered another stellar performance that included two saves on M’bappe from close range in second-half stoppage time, and a fingertip slap that redirected over the crossbar a side-spinning ball that French midfielder Manu Kone directed to the top center of the net.
Paraguay, which entered this match with three goals so far and five against, struggled on offense.
The team fired two shots from more than 30 yards out just before the half-hour mark. Neither went anywhere near the goal. Striker and star player Julio Enciso, who left the game injured in the second half, received a few passes in France’s end but had no teammates in front of him and could only dribble forward until he lost the ball.
French Coach Didier Deschamps said his team could have played better in terms of quickness and passing. “It was not a spectacular match,” he added, but it was not easy considering the heat and Paraguay’s tactics.
“If we played their game, we wouldn’t win. I said to the players [after the hydration break] no gestures, no reactions,” he said during the post-game press conference.
“There were some insults from the other bench that I could’ve done without.”
The Les Bleus hope to reach their third consecutive World Cup final and fifth since 1998.
Their quarterfinal match against Morocco takes place in Boston on July 9.
