France have qualified for the World Cup 2026 Quarter Final after they wrestled their way out of a brutal scrap with Paraguay to snatch a 1-0 win on Saturday. France made the quarterfinals of the World Cup for a fourth consecutive time as they set up a World Cup quarter-final clash against Morocco in Foxborough, Massachusetts on 9th July.

Kylian Mbappe was the star of the show once again as he notched up his 19th World Cup goal in as many appearances and ensured there would be no repeat of Paraguay's shock elimination of four-time champions Germany as France survived a contest their opponents repeatedly dragged into murky waters and played defensive football.

Paraguay also faced backlash for their tactics and ill tempered behaviour. Several incidents involving Paraguay players went unpunished, including challenges on Rabiot and Mbappe. While France players also received yellow cards and it was a scrappy game. It was a completely defensive approach from Paraguay who played with a 5-4-1 formation for large parts of the game.

The game's decisive moment came 20 minutes from time when Desire Doue was brought down in the box. After reviewing the incident on the monitor, referee Ilgiz Tantashev awarded France a penalty. Mbappe converted the penalty at the 70th minute to ensure France got the lead and ended up winning the game.  

Kylian Mbappe ignores handshake with Paraguay goal keeper Gill

It was a very murky match and after the final whistle blew, players gathered to shake hands in a customary gesture. But when Paraguay goal keeper Gill extended his hand towards Mbappe, he ignored his gesture and turned to his team and supporters to celebrate their win.  

The Paraguay goalkeeper was not impressed with Mbappe’s snub. With them already being disheartened after their loss, Gill threw the ball towards the French striker, hitting him on his back. But Mbappe did not react to it and chose to walk away. This video has gone viral on social media. Watch the video here.

Speaking about the kind of tactics Paraguay applied, French captain Kylian Mbappe said that they know how to play rough football and even at that, they were better than Paraguay. β€œWe knew what kind of match we were going to have," Mbappe said in French. "We can also get our hands dirty, we know how to do it. We know how to play ugly football. Guess they were thinking we were going to show up in tuxedos, but we were ready,” he added. The French captain scored his seventh goal of the 2026 World Cup and is just one goal behind Messi when it comes to the all time leading goal scorers. France will be up against Morocco in their next match.