It wasn’t pretty, but it counted: France is moving on to the World Cup quarterfinals after defeating Paraguay 1-0 in the Round of 16 on Saturday. France controlled 76% of the possession, and had significantly more shots than Paraguay, but will settle for a single-goal win to advance.
The sole goal for Les Bleus came off a penalty kick from Kylian Mbappé scored in the 70th minute. Mbappé leaned just enough to the left to trick goalkeeper Orlando Gill into diving the wrong direction, before calmly slotting the ball into the right back corner of the net.
Paraguay, who snuck into the Round of 16 after a penalty shootout win over Germany, is a team notorious for frustrating opponents through rock-solid defense and other antics. Heading into this game, La Albirroja’s strategy was clear: Defend as much as possible, and hold on until extra time and penalties.
And it largely worked. It took France more than 20 minutes to record its first shot, and throughout the game, Paraguay’s five-back formation managed to hold France to 15 shots (five on target) and no goals scored in the run of play. The defense held strong, and Gill, who was the team’s hero against Germany, did the rest.a earlier on Saturday.
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