France vs Paraguay: World Cup Round of 16 – Mbappe, prediction, kickoff

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Who: France vs Paraguay
What: FIFA World Cup 2026 – Round of 16
Where: Philadelphia Stadium, US
When: Saturday, July 4, astatine 5pm (21:00 GMT)
How to follow: We volition person each the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 18:00 GMT earlier our unrecorded substance commentary stream.

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Kylian Mbappe’s France person been the outstanding squad truthful acold astatine this World Cup and volition beryllium expected to get the amended of Paraguay connected Saturday and widen their tally to the quarterfinals.

France look a precise bully stake to triumph their 3rd World Cup, and they are surely expected to flooded a Paraguay squad ranked 41st successful the world.

After winning the trophy successful 2018 and losing the 2022 last connected penalties, France are hoping to go lone the 3rd squad successful World Cup past to scope 3 consecutive finals, aft West Germany and Brazil.

That remains a agelong mode disconnected but their performances truthful acold suggest they volition instrumentality immoderate beating.

Tuesday’s 3-0 decision of Sweden successful the past 32, successful which Mbappe scored doubly and Bradley Barcola once, made it 4 wins successful 4 matches with 13 goals scored.

But the Paraguayans caput to Philadelphia with their assurance sky-high aft their victory connected penalties against Germany – which led to a nationalist vacation being declared backmost home.

What happened successful France’s last-32 game?

Mbappe scored twice, and Michael Olise was successful scintillating signifier arsenic France beat Sweden 3-0.

The Real Madrid striker finished a superb determination to interruption the deadlock conscionable earlier half-time. Olise acceptable up Paris Saint-Germain winger Barcola for the 2nd extremity connected 53 minutes, and past delivered a delightful walk for Mbappe to implicit a convincing victory.

Mbappe’s strikes saw him determination level with Lionel Messi connected six goals successful the all-star aureate footwear contention astatine this World Cup.

The France skipper present has 18 World Cup goals successful total, meaning helium is conscionable 1 down Messi’s wide grounds of 19, a people 27-year-old Mbappe volition support chasing.

Olise successful enactment against Sweden [AFP]

What happened successful Paraguay’s last-32 game?

The Germans trailed 1-0 astatine half-time to Julio Enciso’s 42nd-minute header from Matias Galarza’s transverse connected Monday.

It was a limp show by the four-time winners successful the archetypal period, but they drew level successful the 2nd half, erstwhile Kai Havertz scored 8 minutes aft the restart with a glancing header from Florian Wirtz’s shot successful from the flank.

Germany past had a Jonathan Tah goal from a country ruled retired aft a VAR reappraisal for a foul connected Paraguay’s keeper, and with nary further goal, the crippled went to spot kicks aft other time.

Havertz, who helped Arsenal extremity a 22-year hold to triumph the English Premier League rubric this season, missed the opening footwear of the shootout. The forward’s broadside would miss 3 kicks successful total, arsenic Paraguay, who themselves missed 2 kicks, yet prevailed 4-3.

Deschamps releases the handbrake

France person enjoyed plentifulness of occurrence during Didier Deschamps’s 14 years successful charge, but for a agelong clip determination was a consciousness that a pragmatic manager was not allowing his squad to maximise their attacking potential.

Now astatine his past tourney earlier stepping down, that appears to person changed. Mbappe, Barcola, Ousmane Dembele and the superb Michael Olise look unstoppable.

“There is an fantabulous rapport betwixt the attacking players. They talk the aforesaid footballing language,” said Deschamps aft the Sweden game.

But France’s manager says his broadside volition not instrumentality Paraguay lightly.

“They are not present by chance. Germany are a apical side, and they person that South American DNA, which means they get stuck in,” Deschamps said.

“And they person bully players too. You can’t conscionable suffice for the past 16 of the World Cup similar that by chance.”

Mbappe successful enactment against Sweden during the Round of 32 [Vincent Carchietta/Reuters]

‘We besides person our ain strengths’

One Paraguayan subordinate well-known successful France is Julio Enciso of Strasbourg, who scored against Germany.

He recognises that fewer radical volition expect Paraguay to triumph arsenic they purpose to scope the quarterfinals of the World Cup for conscionable the 2nd time.

“We besides person our ain strengths, and with our benignant of play, we’re going to effort to marque things hard for immoderate opponent,” said Enciso.

Enciso celebrates scoring against Germany successful the past 32 [AFP]

Extreme vigor warnings

One imaginable hostile for some teams is the weather, with temperatures successful Philadelphia acceptable to scope 37 degrees Celsius (98 Fahrenheit) connected Saturday.

This lucifer volition instrumentality spot successful the metropolis wherever the American Declaration of Independence was signed 250 years ago, but celebrations for the juncture are astatine hazard of being affected by storms.

France person already played successful Philadelphia successful this World Cup, and their 3-0 triumph implicit Iraq during the radical signifier was interrupted for 2 hours due to the fact that of rainfall and thunder.

Coping with the conditions could beryllium a challenge, and some sides volition privation to debar the draining imaginable of other clip and penalties.

The past gathering of the countries astatine a World Cup featured other clip and turned retired to beryllium 1 of the astir pivotal moments successful the modern past of the French nationalist team.

On their mode to winning the trophy for the archetypal clip connected location ungraded successful 1998, Les Bleus – with Deschamps arsenic skipper – edged Paraguay 1-0.

France vs Paraguay: Kickoff time, TV channel

• France: Bein Sports 1 (11pm, Central European Time)
• United Kingdom: BBC, ITV (10pm, British Summer Time)
• United States: FOX, Telemundo (5pm, Eastern Daylight Time)

To cheque the TV listings for your country, caput to FIFA’s TV listing schedule here.

France vs Paraguay prediction

The Opta supercomputer gives France a 78.8 percent accidental of winning successful regularisation time, portion Paraguay are astatine 7.6 percent.

The exemplary estimates a 13.7 percent probability that the crippled volition spell to other time.

Head-to-head

The 2 countries person faced each different 5 times, with France winning 3 of the games and 2 ending arsenic draws.

France bushed Paraguay 5-0 successful their astir caller brushwood – a affable successful 2017 – successful which Olivier Giroud scored a hat-trick.

• June 02, 2017: France 5-0 Paraguay (friendly)
• June 01, 2014: France 1-1 Paraguay (friendly)
• May 31, 2008: France 0-0 Paraguay (friendly)
• June 28, 1998: France 1-0 Paraguay (World Cup past 16)
• June 08, 1958: France 7-3 Paraguay (World Cup radical stage)

Team news

Neither broadside has immoderate suspensions oregon reported wounded concerns.

France’s predicted starting XI:

(4-2-3-1): Maignan (goalkeeper); Kounde, Upamecano, Saliba, Digne; Tchouameni, Rabiot; Dembele, Olise, Barcola; Mbappe

Paraguay’s predicted starting XI:

(4-3-3): Gill (goalkeeper); Caceres, G Gomez, Canale, Alonso; Galarza, Cubas, D Gomez; Almiron, Avalos, Enciso