The game between France and Paraguay at the 2026 World Cup was nothing short of intense. Many scuffles, an overwhelmed referee, and plenty of fouls took place, but as Les Bleus managed to win the game, star Kylian Mbappe was clearly not happy with how the Guaranis played.
Per Fabrizio Romano, Mbappe was not happy with Paraguay in the postgame interviews. Mbappe said, “We show Paraguay that if they want to play dirty, we can also play dirty…”
In the end, there were 24 combined fouls on a total of 43 tackles. However, Paraguay didn’t get any booking by referee Ilgis Tantashev. After plenty of action, it was France the one who managed to win 1-0 vs Paraguay and progress through to the next round. In the quarterfinals, France will face Morocco.
Mbappe wasn’t the only taking shots at Paraguay
Rayan Cherki was subbed in by Didier Deschamps in the 84th minute of the game. Still, he didn’t tie his tongue in the postgame interviews, slamming Paraguay, who are out of the 2026 World Cup after the loss, for their violent gameplan to stop France’s attacks.
Cherki said, “Today we show who wants to go to war against us… that we’re ready to go to war as well”. Later, a clearly bothered Cherki added, “I didn’t know Paraguay can do 30 fouls without getting a yellow card”. Needless to say, he wasn’t happy that his team was in harm’s way in the Round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup.
France managed to go through without any injuries
Paraguay saw Miguel Almiron, Julio Enciso, and Omar Alderete all leave the pitch injured. It wasn’t because of hits, but muscular problems. For France, they were able to leave the game unscathed, maybe a couple of bruises, but no serious damage.
Hence, now that France’s path to the 2026 World Cup final has been revealed, they can focus on that and leave behind a very hard-fought game against the Guaranis.
