France defeated Paraguay 1-0 on Saturday evening in Philadelphia thanks to a Kylian Mbappé penalty. Les Bleus advance to the quarterfinals where they will face Morocco on Thursday.
At the end of a very tense match played in sweltering heat, the French team secured qualification for the quarterfinals of the 2026 World Cup. Kylian Mbappé opened the scoring in the 70th minute from a penalty after a VAR intervention following a foul on Désiré Doué.
The French captain converted the shot by wrong-footing Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill. Mbappé scored his seventh goal of the competition. Didier Deschamps praised his team’s spirit against a compact defensive block.
Mbappé said after the match: “We knew what kind of match we were going to have. It’s very good. We showed that we are not only a team that knows how to play offensive football.” Les Bleus will face Morocco on Thursday at 22:00.
