{“skip”: false, “title”: “Mbappe penalty sends France through as Paraguay’s ugly side overshadows defeat”, “content”: “
France needed to find a new way to win to keep their dream of regaining the trophy they last lifted in 2018, and a hard-earned 1-0 victory over Paraguay did exactly that. The decisive moment came with 20 minutes left when Diego Gomez brought down Desire Doue, and referee Ilgiz Tantashev — after reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor — awarded a penalty. Kylian Mbappe stepped up to score his seventh goal of the tournament, drawing level with Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot.
Paraguay had won plenty of admirers heading into the match, having knocked out Germany on penalties in the last 32. But in a bad-tempered game played in the punishing Philadelphia heat, they showed a very different side. Andres Cubas escaped a booking after clattering into Adrien Rabiot. Juan Jose Caceres kicked out at Mbappe, also without punishment. Gabriel Avalos dropped an elbow into the stomach of Dayot Upamecano while Paraguay were chasing the game — again, nothing from the referee.
Astonishingly, not one Paraguay player was booked across the entire match, while France’s Manu Kone, Bradley Barcola and Michael Olise were all cautioned. Tantashev’s overall performance drew widespread criticism for being too weak. Before Mbappe’s penalty was even taken, Paraguay’s players crowded the Uzbek official in an attempt to delay the kick, and Gustavo Velazquez tried to scuff up the penalty spot.
Former England defender Micah Richards was damning in his assessment. “It was embarrassing to see,” he told BBC One. “Paraguay are better than that. Defensively they were so good and they didn’t need to get into these antics.” Former Scotland winger Pat Nevin echoed that view on BBC Radio 5 Live, saying Paraguay “tried to wind up the France players, little shoves and nudges but not enough to get a yellow card.”
The bad feeling continued long after the final whistle, with Velazquez attempting to confront France players during a post-match scuffle. Matias Galarza also put his hand in Jules Kounde’s face. France manager Didier Deschamps, speaking at his post-match news conference, did not hold back. “There were some insults from the other bench we could have done without,” he said.
“, “meta_description”: “Kylian Mbappe’s penalty settled a bad-tempered clash as France beat Paraguay 1-0, but the match was overshadowed by Paraguay’s conduct throughout.”, “category”: “Match Results”, “focus_keyphrase”: “France Paraguay World Cup”, “tags”: [“France”, “Paraguay”, “Kylian Mbappe”, “World Cup 2026”, “Didier Deschamps”]}
Image credit: BBC Sport / BBC Sport
