- Mbappé equals Messi in the race for the Golden Boot.
- France will face Morocco in the quarterfinals.
- Doue wins the decisive penalty after appearing as a substitute.
Kylian Mbappé converted from the penalty spot in the 70th minute, the 19th goal of his World Cup career and the seventh of this tournament, and France beat Paraguay to reach the quarterfinals with a 1-0 victory on Saturday in a thrilling round of 16 encounter.
With the penalty, won by substitute Desire Doue’s slalom run into the box, Mbappé moved level with Argentina’s Lionel Messi at the top of the 2026 Golden Boot standings and moved within one of the 39-year-old’s all-time World Cup goals lead.
It was all Les Bleus needed against a resilient but limited Albirroja, who offered little in attack but defended admirably and tried to provoke their enemies in off-the-ball battles in sweltering conditions with temperatures approaching 100 Fahrenheit.
“We knew what kind of game we were going to have,” Mbappé said through an interpreter. “If we have to get our hands dirty, we can do it. We can play ugly football. They thought we would show up in tuxedos, but we were there. Even in that game we were better than them. That’s their football: there is no right or wrong way to play. They tried to attack us that way, but we won.”
France advances to face Morocco next Thursday in Foxborough, Massachusetts, in a rematch of the 2022 semifinal that ended with a 2-0 French victory.
Paraguay stunned Germany on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the round of 32 on Monday, a result that inspired President Santiago Peña to declare Tuesday a national holiday.
But La Albirroja still fell one round short of their best quarter-final result of all time in 2010, which was also their last appearance at a World Cup finals.
The South Americans frustrated the two-time world champions throughout the first half and well into the second, helped in part by the timid attitude of Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev. When he reached for his pocket, it was disconcerting for three French offenders even though Paraguay led 12-9 in fouls.
“It wasn’t easy. They used every trick possible,” France coach Didier Deschamps said through an interpreter. “It’s not the type of football that attracts people to the stadium, but they defended well. It’s always difficult against these South American teams.
“I asked the two bigger guys to go and surround Kylian at the end because they were going to take him down.”
But Paraguay had no solution for the injection of energy that Doue provided after Deschamps inserted him in the 61st minute for Bradley Barcola.
Moments after Tantashev rejected appeals for a foul on Mbappé just outside the area, Doue’s excellent incisive dribble from the left forced an awkward challenge from Diego Gómez’s left leg that forced the referee to make another decision.
At first he came to the same conclusion and blew the whistle, but the head of the VAR, Juan Lara, called him to the replay monitor. In the end he saw Gómez’s clear fault.
After some delaying tactics from Paraguay on the spot, Mbappé deftly converted into the bottom right corner as goalkeeper Orlando Gill guessed in the opposite direction.
Clearly fatigued by the conditions and their 120-minute effort against the Germans, Paraguay finally tried to put their numbers forward. Substitute Mauricio took his first shot on goal in the 90th minute.
But it was France who looked more likely to score another goal, with Gill doing well to deny Mbappe a brace with an 89th-minute save and two more in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time.
“Paraguay leaves with its head held high,” said Gill. “I think without the penalty we could have done it. We did very well in the first half, we avoided all the deep passes. It was unfortunate that there was a penalty, but that’s football.”
