France edged past Paraguay in the last-16 of the World Cup 2026 on Saturday, after Kylian Mbappe’s penalty secured a 1-0 win.
Didier Deschamps’ men have looked like the best team left in the tournament but the South Americans left them frustrated for more than an hour in Philadelphia.
However, Desire Doue’s trickery was enough to force Diego Gomez to dangle a leg and, after a VAR intervention, Ilgiz Tantashev awarded Les Bleus a spot kick, which Mbappe converted to move back level with Lionel Messi in the race for the golden boot on seven goals.
The feisty contest saw Paraguay use rough tactics on the French superstars, including Juan Caceres’s late challenge on Mbappe, and there were numerous moments when arguments between players threatened to boil over into physical altercations – even after the final whistle.
Follow all the fallout from Paraguay v France with our live blog:
‘It’s not disgraceful, it’s even worse’
“If you’re a neutral you can’t have any respect for them anymore. It’s not disgraceful, it’s even worse,” says BBC pundit Thomas Hitzlsperger about Paraguay’s behaviour.
I’ll be honest, there’s a lot of hand-wringing about the amount of Paraguay niggle. It is bizarre that they didn’t get a single yellow card all match, that wasn’t great refereeing, but I’m not sure we need the over-the-top pearl clutching and moralising.
It’s just a bit of s***housery in a football match…
FULL-TIME! Paraguay 0-1 France
France have had plenty of impressive performances at this World Cup, so they won’t mind too much about this one.
“A deserved win for France but a hard-fought one,” says Richard Jolly at Philadelphia Stadium.
“Paraguay defended very well, albeit with too much niggle and gamesmanship to root for them, but they had too little in attack. On France go, to face Morocco in Boston.”
FULL-TIME! Paraguay 0-1 France
Well, it wasn’t pretty. Paraguay made the game a slugfest, some ugly scenes but France are through to the quarter-finals!
Kylian Mbappe’s second-half penalty was enough to win this bad-tempered game! France’s least impressive display of the World Cup but they’ve won.
Morocco await in the last eight
Paraguay 0-1 France, 90+10 mins
Mbappe laughing as Galarza tries to wind him up. Good reaction, to be honest. France in the corner and will see this out.
Paraguay 0-1 France, 90+8 mins
Paraguay win a corner. They can’t, can they…?
No, they can’t. Maignan does well to claim. France not enjoying this, Paraguay getting niggly, trying to wind up Les Bleus.
Not long to hold on now.
SAVE! Paraguay 0-1 France, 90+7 mins
Oh my word! That is a remarkable double save by Orlando Gill!
Great ball in behind by Olise, Mbappe fires a shot through the legs of Velazquez and Gill somehow stops it with his right hand. Mbappe on the rebound and it’s another fantastic Gill stop as he makes himself big. INCREDIBLE!
Paraguay 0-1 France, 90+5 mins
Cherki wins a corner and this time France can waste a few seconds. Olise ambles over and eventually takes it short.
Paraguay break and Galarza tries to shrug off Kounde, who goes down clutching his face. I’d suggest it was more collarbone than face but Galaraza did throw an arm.
Then it’s nearly disaster for Maignan who fumbles the ball before falling gratefully on it with a Paraguay player lurking
Paraguay rewarded for timewasting
“Ten minutes of added time may be a reward for some of Paraguay’s timewasting,” muses Richard Jolly at Philadelphia Stadium.
“Can they take advantage?”
Paraguay 0-1 France, 90+3 mins
Another Paraguay foul, another avoidance of a booking. Remarkable that Galarza, Cubas and Caceres haven’t been yellow carded.
Paraguay defend the free-kick well and then clear
Paraguay 0-1 France, 90 mins
Mbappe takes a shot from the edge of the area and it’s pushed away by a plunging Gill.
France have completed 474 passes to Paraguay’s 94. Still only one goal in it though.
Paraguay come forward and Mauricio strikes from outside the box but Maignan gets down to hold it.
There’ll be 10 minutes of injury time for the South Americans to find something! Wow!
