KOR
▲ France's Kylian Mbappe celebrates his team's victory.
France has advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup after a narrow 1-0 victory over Paraguay, secured by a penalty kick from star striker Kylian Mbappe.
France won the Round of 16 match held at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Despite France's powerful offense, which had scored at least three goals in each of its previous four matches, the team struggled to create dangerous opportunities against Paraguay's resilient defensive wall.
Paraguay's defense was so tight that Mbappe failed to record a single shot in the first half.
France head coach Didier Deschamps brought in Desire Doue in the 61st minute for his dribbling skills and agility, a move that proved to be a masterstroke.
Once Doue entered the pitch, France's flank attacks came to life.
Doue began to crack the Paraguayan defense with his energetic dribbling and earned a penalty kick less than 10 minutes after stepping onto the field.
As Doue dribbled through the Paraguayan defense, Diego Gomez committed a reckless tackle, and the referee awarded a penalty kick after a video assistant referee (VAR) on-field review.
Mbappe, stepping up as the kicker, fired the ball into the right side of the net to score the opening goal for France.
With his 7th goal of the tournament, Mbappe is now tied with Argentina's Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot.
He also increased his total World Cup career goals to 19, closing the gap to just one goal behind the leader, Messi (20 goals).
Mbappe's record for the most goals scored in World Cup knockout stages has now extended to 11.
Mbappe had a chance to score his third multi-goal game of the tournament during a counterattack in second-half stoppage time, but his shot was blocked by the goalkeeper.
France became the fourth nation to reach the 150-goal milestone in World Cup history, following Brazil, Germany, and Argentina.
French coach Deschamps, who helped secure a win against Paraguay as a player in the Round of 16 at the 1998 World Cup in France, led his team to victory against the same opponent in the same round 28 years later.
Twenty-eight years ago, France also secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Paraguay thanks to a golden goal by Laurent Blanc.
France will face Morocco, which defeated Canada 3-0 earlier today, in the quarterfinals at Gillette Stadium in Boston on July 10 at 5:00 AM KST.
France and Morocco previously met in the semifinals of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, where France won 2-0.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.
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