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Who: France vs Paraguay
What: FIFA World Cup 2026 – Spherical of 16
The place: Philadelphia Stadium, US
When: Saturday, July 4, at 5pm (21:00 GMT)
How you can comply with: We may have all of the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 18:00 GMT earlier than our dwell textual content commentary stream.
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Kylian Mbappe’s France have been the excellent group up to now at this World Cup and shall be anticipated to get the higher of Paraguay on Saturday and prolong their run to the quarterfinals.
France look an excellent guess to win their third World Cup, and they’re definitely anticipated to beat a Paraguay group ranked forty first on the earth.
After successful the trophy in 2018 and dropping the 2022 ultimate on penalties, France are hoping to develop into solely the third group in World Cup historical past to achieve three consecutive finals, after West Germany and Brazil.
That is still a great distance off however their performances up to now recommend they may take some beating.
Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat of Sweden within the final 32, wherein Mbappe scored twice and Bradley Barcola as soon as, made it 4 wins in 4 matches with 13 targets scored.
However the Paraguayans head to Philadelphia with their confidence sky-high after their victory on penalties towards Germany – which led to a nationwide vacation being declared again residence.
What occurred in France’s last-32 recreation?
Mbappe scored twice, and Michael Olise was in scintillating type as France beat Sweden 3-0.
The Actual Madrid striker completed an excellent transfer to interrupt the impasse simply earlier than half-time. Olise arrange Paris Saint-Germain winger Barcola for the second aim on 53 minutes, after which delivered a pleasant go for Mbappe to finish a convincing victory.
Mbappe’s strikes noticed him transfer stage with Lionel Messi on six targets within the all-star golden boot race at this World Cup.
The France captain now has 18 World Cup targets in complete, that means he is only one behind Messi’s total report of 19, a mark 27-year-old Mbappe will maintain chasing.
What occurred in Paraguay’s last-32 recreation?
The Germans trailed 1-0 at half-time to Julio Enciso’s Forty second-minute header from Matias Galarza’s cross on Monday.
It was a limp show by the four-time winners within the first interval, however they drew stage within the second half, when Kai Havertz scored eight minutes after the restart with a glancing header from Florian Wirtz’s ball in from the flank.
Germany then had a Jonathan Tah aim from a nook dominated out after a VAR evaluate for a foul on Paraguay’s keeper, and with no additional aim, the sport went to identify kicks after additional time.
Havertz, who helped Arsenal finish a 22-year wait to win the English Premier League title this season, missed the opening kick of the shootout. The ahead’s facet would miss three kicks in complete, as Paraguay, who themselves missed two kicks, finally prevailed 4-3.
Deschamps releases the handbrake
France have loved loads of success throughout Didier Deschamps’s 14 years in cost, however for a very long time there was a way {that a} pragmatic coach was not permitting his group to maximise their attacking potential.
Now at his final event earlier than stepping down, that seems to have modified. Mbappe, Barcola, Ousmane Dembele and the good Michael Olise appear unstoppable.
“There is a superb rapport between the attacking gamers. They converse the identical footballing language,” mentioned Deschamps after the Sweden recreation.
However France’s coach says his facet won’t take Paraguay frivolously.
“They don’t seem to be right here by likelihood. Germany are a high facet, and so they have that South American DNA, which suggests they get caught in,” Deschamps mentioned.
“They usually have good gamers too. You may’t simply qualify for the final 16 of the World Cup like that by likelihood.”
‘We even have our personal strengths’
One Paraguayan participant well-known in France is Julio Enciso of Strasbourg, who scored towards Germany.
He recognises that few individuals will anticipate Paraguay to win as they purpose to achieve the quarterfinals of the World Cup for simply the second time.
“We even have our personal strengths, and with our type of play, we’re going to attempt to make issues troublesome for any opponent,” mentioned Enciso.
Excessive warmth warnings
One potential opponent for each groups is the climate, with temperatures in Philadelphia set to achieve 37 levels Celsius (98 Fahrenheit) on Saturday.
This match will happen within the metropolis the place the American Declaration of Independence was signed 250 years in the past, however celebrations for the event are liable to being affected by storms.
France have already performed in Philadelphia on this World Cup, and their 3-0 win over Iraq throughout the group stage was interrupted for 2 hours due to rain and thunder.
Dealing with the circumstances may very well be a problem, and each side will need to keep away from the draining prospect of additional time and penalties.
The final assembly of the international locations at a World Cup featured additional time and turned out to be probably the most pivotal moments within the trendy historical past of the French nationwide group.
On their solution to successful the trophy for the primary time on residence soil in 1998, Les Bleus – with Deschamps as captain – edged Paraguay 1-0.
France vs Paraguay: Kickoff time, TV channel
- France: Bein Sports activities 1 (11pm, Central European Time)
- United Kingdom: BBC, ITV (10pm, British Summer season Time)
- United States: FOX, Telemundo (5pm, Jap Daylight Time)
To verify the TV listings on your nation, head to FIFA’s TV itemizing schedule here.
France vs Paraguay prediction
The Opta supercomputer provides France a 78.8 % likelihood of successful in regulation time, whereas Paraguay are at 7.6 %.
The mannequin estimates a 13.7 % likelihood that the sport will go to additional time.
Head-to-head
The 2 international locations have confronted one another 5 occasions, with France successful three of the video games and two ending as attracts.
France beat Paraguay 5-0 of their most up-to-date encounter – a pleasant in 2017 – wherein Olivier Giroud scored a hat-trick.
- June 02, 2017: France 5-0 Paraguay (pleasant)
- June 01, 2014: France 1-1 Paraguay (pleasant)
- Could 31, 2008: France 0-0 Paraguay (pleasant)
- June 28, 1998: France 1-0 Paraguay (World Cup final 16)
- June 08, 1958: France 7-3 Paraguay (World Cup group stage)
Workforce information
Neither facet has any suspensions or reported harm considerations.
France’s predicted beginning XI:
(4-2-3-1): Maignan (goalkeeper); Kounde, Upamecano, Saliba, Digne; Tchouameni, Rabiot; Dembele, Olise, Barcola; Mbappe
Paraguay’s predicted beginning XI:
(4-3-3): Gill (goalkeeper); Caceres, G Gomez, Canale, Alonso; Galarza, Cubas, D Gomez; Almiron, Avalos, Enciso
