​No team had ever made France look as uncomfortable as Paraguay did, not before this. Paraguay, ranked 41st globally and fueled by the adrenaline of eliminating Germany in the previous round, appeared to be in for more of the same in Philadelphia’s heat. But what unfolded forced Alexi Lalas to whip out his phone at the final whistle, posting on X: “Paraguay…qué vergüenza. Adiós,” which translates to “What a shame. Goodbye.”
The opening 45 minutes presented a France side facing a new challenge: a compact five-back block that crowded out space behind the attacking quartet of Mbappé, Dembélé, Olise, and Barcola. The four attackers managed only a single shot collectively, and the halftime xG was a paltry 0.20 across the two teams. Paraguay’s plan—stubborn and effective—had stifled Germany days earlier, and they believed they could do the same here. They played to their script, and it worked.
Didier Deschamps, France’s manager, anticipated this and trusted his players to solve it rather than reorganizing the lineup before kickoff. After the match, he explained, “We have attacking quality, but any team will find things complicated against such a low block. Especially when intensity drops, which will happen in these conditions.” Mbappé acknowledged the challenge, saying, “We knew what kind of game we were going to get, but we showed that we are not just a team that can play attacking football. If we have to get our hands dirty, we will get our hands dirty.”
Defensive discipline wasn’t the issue; everything around it was. Andrés Cubas collided with Mbappé, sparking a pushing match, followed by a hard challenge from José Cáceres on Mbappé. Gabriel Avalos connected with Dayot Upamecano with an elbow, and stoppages piled up. A Paraguay defender even booted the ball into the second tier to waste time. Remarkably, Paraguay did not pick up a single yellow card—the first time they’d gone card-free in a World Cup match since 1998 against Nigeria. The referee allowed their physical approach to continue.
Deschamps altered the game at the 60-minute mark, bringing on Doué for Barcola. Within ten minutes, Doué’s surging run into the box ended with Diego Gómez bringing him down. VAR upheld the penalty, and Mbappé converted in the 70th minute as Gill moved the wrong way. France held on to secure a 1-0 victory.
Deschamps, who had previously beaten Paraguay at the same World Cup stage in 1998, delivered a measured post-match assessment: “If we had responded to provocation, like Germany did, it could have gone very badly for us.”