France survive Paraguay's 'disgraceful' and 'embarrassing' dark arts
"Paraguay's players were an absolute disgrace," former England goalkeeper Joe Hart told BBC One. "If they were on my team, I'd be dragging them off
"Paraguay's players were an absolute disgrace," former England goalkeeper Joe Hart told BBC One. "If they were on my team, I'd be dragging them off the pitch." After dismantling all before them at this World Cup, France had to find a new way to win to keep alive their dream of regaining the trophy they last lifted in 2018. Their 1-0 victory over Paraguay was hard earned. Paraguay had won over neutrals by causing a major shock in the last 32, knocking out Germany on penalties. But, in a bad-tempered match in the punishing Philadelphia heat, they showed their ugly side.
Andres Cubas escaped a booking after clattering into Adrien Rabiot. Juan Jose Caceres kicked out at Kylian Mbappe, and that went unpunished too. Astonishingly, while Les Bleus players Manu Kone, Bradley Barcola and Michael Olise were all cautioned, not one Paraguay player was booked. Not even when Gabriel Avalos dropped his elbow into the stomach of Dayot Upamecano when Paraguay were chasing the game. "It was embarrassing to see," former England defender Micah Richards told BBC One. "Paraguay are better than that. Defensively they were so good and they didn't need to get into these antics." France's victory secured a quarter-final date with Morocco at Boston Stadium on Thursday (21:00 BST kick-off).
The decisive moment came with 20 minutes left when Diego Gomez stuck out his leg to bring down Desire Doue. Referee Ilgiz Tantashev - whose overall performance was widely criticised for being too weak - reviewed the incident on the pitchside monitor, and awarded a penalty. Even then, Paraguay's players crowded the Uzbek official in an attempt to delay the penalty kick, while Gustavo Velazquez tried to scuff the penalty spot before Mbappe scored his seventh goal of the tournament to go level with Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot. "There were some insults from the other bench we could have done without," said France boss Didier Deschamps in his news conference afterwards.
Even after the full-time whistle, there was a scuffle as Velazquez attempted to confront France players. "Paraguay tried to wind up the France players, little shoves and nudges but not enough to get a yellow card," former Scotland winger Pat Nevin told BBC Radio 5 Live. "Every single dark art you can use."
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