were far from their dazzling best against but saw off their opponents in an ill-tempered game to qualify for the quarter-finals for the 10th time. After scoring goals almost at will since the start of the tournament, Didier Deschamps’ free-flowing side had to rely on a solitary second-half Kylian Mbappe penalty to get over the line and against a stubborn Paraguay outfit.
Once they had taken the lead, the 2018 champions turned their focus to managing their advantage and ensuring there were no defensive lapses as La Albirroja began to tire in the latter stages of the game.
“Since the start of the tournament, we’ve got into a habit of scoring at least three goals,” France defender William Saliba told FIFA. “Today, we only won 1-0, but a win is a win and it’s worth the same.”
Sitting deep in front of the excellent goalkeeper – who was also named – Paraguay took a clear tactical decision to close down space and frustrate the World Cup runners-up. Under such conditions, even players of the calibre of Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembele struggled to find any real room to operate.
Les Bleus were therefore forced to dig deeper and respond to Paraguay’s physical challenge and cunning, at the risk of this time earning more praise for their resilience than for their trademark flowing football.
"I’ve never been hit and kicked that many times in a match before, but we won, so that’s all that matters," Bradley Barcola said afterwards. "It was tough [after my yellow card]; I had to avoid retaliating, but it was a good experience.”
Goalscorer Mbappe insisted he and his team-mates were prepared for the physicality, adding: “We knew what type of match was in store for us, and I think it’s a good thing we had a match like that, and the way we handled it.”
Even on a night when space was at a premium, the France striker found a way to score yet another World Cup goal – his 19th in 19 matches – putting him back at the top of the adidas Golden Boot standings, level with Lionel Messi on seven in North America.
“We showed that we’re not just a team who can only play attacking football”, France’s No10 continued. “They think that we’re going to turn up and play in tuxedos, do a few nice tricks and some one-twos [...] Everyone plays to their strengths; there’s no right or wrong way to play football – the only way is to win.”
Paraguay refused to take the risk of leaving themselves exposed to the French side’s lightning counter-attacks. Even when trailing, they stuck to their rigid defensive approach in the belief that conceding even the slightest space to the tournament’s most dangerous attack could prove fatal and put the game out of sight.
France did eventually manage to find an answer. A dazzling dribble from Desire Doue into the box saw the winger brought down by Diego Gomez, with a VAR review confirming the foul and awarding France a penalty, which was duly dispatched by the French captain.
This hard-fought victory could well prove invaluable for the rest of the competition.
“This win feels good because it was a hard-fought game. We showed a different side of us, both to the fans and to ourselves”, said Manu Kone, who stepped in to replace the injured Aurelien Tchouameni. “We proved that, even in this type of match, we can stay united, work together and keep on moving forward. To be honest, it’s really satisfying.”
Since the start of the tournament, Deschamps had seen his squad perform perfectly on a technical level, but this encounter required a certain psychological and mental strength – and the 57-year-old will be happy with the resilience his team showed.
“I have a close-knit group with excellent team spirit”, he said at full-time. “We struggled at times today, like a lot of teams have in recent games, but we did what we had to do. Now we’re in the quarter-finals and we should appreciate that. We have five days to rest up and recover.”
Having followed the match closely, Morocco – France’s next opponents – will now be asking themselves how they can go about stopping the French machine and avenge their semi-final defeat to the same opponent four years earlier at Qatar 2022™. Ahead of the encounter in Boston on 9 July, their coach Mohamed Ouahbi has five days to try and find the magic formula.
Sources: FIFA Official
