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Deschamps keeps his cool as France survive Paraguay's provocation
France somehow ended the match with all three bookings from Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev despite Paraguay being the team who sat deep and defended
- PUBLISHED: Sun 5 Jul 2026, 12:06 PM
After France survived a contentious World Cup round of 16 clash with a 1-0 victory over Paraguay, French manager Didier Deschamps tried to take the high road.
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France somehow ended the match with all three bookings from Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev despite Paraguay being the team who sat deep and defended.
But that state of affairs was expected from Deschamps and his side on a sweltering afternoon that was the hottest match of this World Cup.
"I've seen a lot of things," Deschamps said. "I have prepared the players. The players were expecting this game.
"I do not want to criticise Paraguay. Each team plays the way they want. But there were some insults from the other bench which I could have done without.
"The most important is by the end of the game that there were no disagreements and that we (did not) get another card.
"We got three yellow cards with a lot of fouls. I'm not saying that we did not make any fouls, but there were a lot from both teams."
Manu Kone, Bradley Barcola and Michael Olise were the booked players. Admirably, France goal-scorer Kylian Mbappe avoided joining them despite persistent Paraguayan provocation.
Asked whether it showed growth for France's 27-year-old captain, Deschamps replied that Mbappe has always behaved maturely for the national team.
"There was a lot of media saying that he has evolved," Deschamps said. "I don't want to contradict myself, but Kylian has an image for you that is far from reality.
"I don't want to lie. I've said from the first day that he had this spirit. He gave all the athletic efforts. He's a great top-notch player on the pitch. But when he speaks, he speaks for the entire group."
Until Mbappe's 70th-minute penalty, earned by the excellent dribbling of substitute Desire Doue to incite Diego Gomez's clumsy challenge, there remained a chance France would follow Germany out of the tournament at the hands of Paraguay, in the process ending Deschamps' 14-year managerial tenure.
Deschamps insisted he never dwelled on it.
"I'm going to be clear. I will never think of that," he said. "The only feeling that I have is to do everything for (the team) to work in the best way.
"The last game could have been four years ago or eight years ago. They could have told me you'll go home. It's like that.
"I have a positive philosophy. With my staff, we're going to do everything to win. But we know this is football. Sometimes you lose. But you give it your all, then your head will be all right."
Paraguay had hoped to avenge their 1998 last-16 defeat by eventual champions France, settled by Laurent Blanc's golden goal, but their minimalist approach was again left unrewarded.
France made one change from the side who beat Sweden 3-0, with Manu Kone replacing the injured Tchouameni alongside Adrien Rabiot in midfield, while Paraguay set up in a defensive 5-4-1.
With temperatures reaching 39 degrees Celsius (102.2°F), France found clear openings hard to come by against a Paraguay side who defended ruggedly.
Neither side managed a shot on target before the break, with Rabiot, Kone and Ousmane Dembele all trying their luck without reward, while Julio Enciso offered Paraguay's lone threat at the other end.
For France, it was turning into a test of patience, but they pressed on after the interval and finally broke through when substitute Desire Doue, on for Bradley Barcola, was tripped in the box by Diego Gomez.
After a VAR review, referee Ilgiz Tantashev awarded the penalty and Mbappe coolly converted in the 70th minute, wrongfooting Orlando Gill for his seventh goal of the tournament, putting him level with Lionel Messi and one behind the Argentine talisman in the all-time list.
Nerves crept in when Mike Maignan was finally called into action in the 90th minute, making his first save of the game as Paraguay, provocative until the end and hunting for fouls around the box, tried to turn the final minutes into chaos.
France then faced another sweaty spell in stoppage time after Mbappe was denied twice in quick succession by Gill, leaving Les Bleus to close out the win the hard way.
"We knew what kind of match we were going to have. If we have to get our hands dirty, we can do that. We can play ugly football. They thought we would turn up in tuxedos, but we were there," said Mbappe.
"Even at that game, we were better than them. That's their football — there is no right or wrong way to play the game. They tried to get at us that way, but we won."