Paraguay have shown that France can be stopped – Morocco will be on notice 2026 World Cup

There were wild celebrations when France secured a place in the quarter-finals. The entire team played from the center to the end of the Philadelphia stadium where the core of the French support had gathered. It was crowded, roaring and chests pounding. Leading the charge, as before, was Kylian Mbappé.

As soon as the raucous celebration had died down, the French captain quickly turned to the TV cameras and set up coverage of the match. This was not a game and more of a battle, he said, against a Paraguayan team that attacked, knocked down and, at times, punched its way through the process. “We knew what kind of game we were going to have,” said Mbappé. “But we know we’re getting our hands dirty.”

Back in the middle of the field, Didier Deschamps gave a small assessment of what had happened. “It was a tough game but, as I said to the players, we’ve had easy games so far. It’s good to face a tough one,” he said.

“I have prepared the players, they were expecting this game. I don’t want to criticize Paraguay, each team plays the way they want. We looked to play football but the enemy did what they wanted. Playing a low block requires a little effort. But even today we have to play quickly in changes.”

Without wanting to downplay the effectiveness of Paraguayan black art, and especially the performance of Matías Galarza’s highly polished, it worked for Mbappé and his colleagues to make a story about scrap. This was a small game that convinced the French in this World Cup. They didn’t register a goal on target until the 55th minute and only got one – the winning penalty – before a final attack that saw Mbappé denied three times by Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill in extra time.

France recorded the fewest shots on target and the lowest xG of their tournament (penalty included). Paraguay, reverting to a five-man line at the back and with a narrow midfield of four placed up front, narrowed the gaps to such an extent that even Michael Olise could not thread the needle through. Ousmane Dembelé struggled in the game, as did Bradley Barcola. There was no reason in the game when they were able to raise their level suddenly, as in previous games, and the general tension will have shown the enthusiasm to watch Morocco, France’s next opponents, who are also able to stop the game.

Yes, there were mitigating factors at play. From the perspective of the stands it appeared that the raging heat in Philadelphia, with temperatures of 38C causing the city to cancel some of its 4th of July celebrations, was more to blame for the game’s outcome than any disruption in Paraguay. The opposition did their best to provoke, but France struggled from the start to play at any pace – especially when the pitch was hit by the sun.

In the end, France was relegated to the provisional group. Their famous players, Mbappé in particular, were looking to solve problems in the game on their own. They won the game this way too. Désiré Doué’s slalom in the box was too quick for two Paraguay defenders and drew a tough challenge from the third, the captain, Gustavo Gómez. The referee, Ilgiz Tantashev, missed a mistake, not the only thing that got past him in the game, but VAR finally intervened to award a penalty which Mbappé calmly converted.

PSG’s Doué may have been the best performer in the tournament, even if it was limited to the last 30 minutes as he came off the bench. And that, in the end, may be the most appropriate takeaway from the game. France faced a difficult tactical challenge – and an irritating enemy – in extremely difficult conditions. They didn’t play well, and they didn’t create many chances (although it should be noted that they didn’t concede them either). For the first time in this World Cup, they had to go to their bench to find a solution to win the game. And it worked.

Paraguay, in different ways, managed to take down France in Philadelphia as Cape Verde faced Argentina last night. The removal of any undefeated armor will be good for this tournament. Deschamps will have to play better when they face Morocco in Boston on Thursday. But at the end of this test, France reminded everyone of the full extent of their abilities. They can win in tuxedos or they can win fast, and those moments can come from anywhere.