Paraguay vs France - prediction, team news, lineups | World Cup 2026

Paraguay volition endeavour to propulsion disconnected different 2026 World Cup upset erstwhile they look tourney favourites France successful Philadelphia connected Saturday.

La Albirroja knocked retired four-time satellite champions Germany to scope the past 16, portion Les Bleus eased to triumph implicit Sweden successful their round-of-32 clash.

Match preview

There were tears of disbelief and euphoric celebrations aft Paraguay’s Jose Canale smashed location the decisive punishment to unafraid a memorable 4-3 shootout triumph implicit Germany in Monday’s last-32 contest, pursuing a 1-1 gully successful 120 minutes of engrossing action.

La Albirroja proved galore doubters incorrect with a hard-fought show to grounds 1 of the biggest knockout upsets successful modern history. Prior to the tournament, determination were 31 places successful the FIFA World Rankings betwixt Germany (10th) and Paraguay (41st) – a chasm that present stands arsenic the fourth-largest ranking shortage ever flooded successful a World Cup knockout necktie since 1994.

Since learning a “very achy lesson” successful a 4-1 humbling by the USA successful their opening radical game, Paraguay person shown signs of progression and a fierce consciousness of togetherness astatine this summer’s tournament, with manager Gustavo Alfaro engineering a spirited broadside that person been hard to interruption down.

Indeed, conscionable 1 decision was posted successful 12 World Cup qualifiers aft Alfaro was appointed successful August 2024, portion Paraguay person suffered decision successful lone 5 of their past 23 planetary matches crossed each competitions (W10 D8).

However, Paraguay person failed to bushed France successful 5 erstwhile attempts (D2 L3) and they volition beryllium retired for revenge against Les Bleus this play aft suffering a slender 1-0 decision successful a last-16 necktie astatine the 1998 World Cup, courtesy of a Golden Goal scored by Laurent Blanc successful the 114th minute.

France are 1 of lone 3 teams, on with Mexico and Argentina, who person won 100% of their games astatine the 2026 World Cup and person scored a tournament-high 12 goals successful the process.

Much of that devastating firepower has been driven by a frightening beforehand 4 featuring Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise and Bradley Barcola, the erstwhile of whom netted doubly successful a comfy 3-0 triumph implicit Sweden successful the past 32 connected Tuesday.

The lucifer besides marked an affectional instrumentality to the dugout for caput manager Didier Deschamps pursuing the passing of his mother. Deschamps - who famously captained Les Bleus to the aforementioned World Cup triumph implicit Paraguay backmost successful 1998 - has extended his grounds for astir World Cup wins arsenic a manager (18).

Regarded arsenic favourites successful our World Cup betting guide and ranked No.1 successful the satellite by FIFA, France person won 9 of their past 10 planetary matches crossed each competitions (L1) and person besides prevailed successful 15 of their past 18 World Cup fixtures (D2 L1) since the commencement of their triumphant 2018 campaign.

Nevertheless, Deschamps is refusing to instrumentality Saturday’s trial against Paraguay lightly, informing his France squad that their South American opponents' historical triumph implicit Germany was “no accident”.

Paraguay World Cup form:

Paraguay signifier (all competitions):

France World Cup form:

France signifier (all competitions):

Team News

Paraguay and Sunderland centre-back Omar Alderete is yet to afloat retrieve from a genu wounded sustained successful their last radical crippled and is expected to miss retired connected Saturday.

Jose Canale could truthful clasp his starting spot astatine centre-back alongside 93-cap Gustavo Gomez, with full-backs Juan Jose Caceres and Junior Alonso completing the four-man defence.

Brighton’s Diego Gomez is disposable to instrumentality aft serving a one-match prohibition past clip out, and helium could beryllium joined successful centre-midfield by Andres Cubas and either Damian Bobadilla oregon Matias Galarza.

Strasbourg’s Julio Enciso, who scored successful mean clip against Germany, and Miguel Almiron are expected to proceed retired wide, portion Gabriel Avalos is acceptable to commencement again arsenic the cardinal striker, though Antonio Sanabria volition beryllium pushing for a recall.

As for France, determination are nary caller wounded concerns to report; Marcus Thuram is inactive dealing with a calf occupation and remains doubtful. A commencement is not connected the cards adjacent if the Inter Milan guardant were to marque a afloat recover.

Deschamps whitethorn beryllium tempted to sanction the aforesaid starting lineup that began against Sweden, with skipper Mbappe acceptable to proceed up beforehand arsenic helium bids to adhd to his 18 World Cup goals and chases down Lionel Messi (19) astatine the apical of the tournament’s all-time scoring charts.

Olise, who has registered 5 assists and is conscionable 1 distant from equalling Pele’s all-time grounds of six astatine the World Cup, is expected to proceed successful the fig 10 role, with PSG duo Dembele and Barcola providing enactment successful onslaught from retired wide.

Manu Kone volition beryllium hoping to unit his mode backmost into the archetypal XI aft starting against Iraq and Norway successful the radical stage. However, Adrien Rabiot and Aurelien Tchouameni are expected to nexus arms successful centre-midfield.

Paraguay imaginable starting lineup:

Gill; Caceres, G. Gomez, Canale, Alonso; Galarza, Cubas, D. Gomez; Almiron, Avalos, Enciso

France imaginable starting lineup:

Maignan; Kounde, Upamecano, Saliba, Digne; Tchouameni, Rabiot; Dembele, Olise, Barcola; Mbappe

We say: Paraguay 0-2 France

While Paraguay cannot beryllium written disconnected wholly and volition undoubtedly combat with the aforesaid dogged resilience, it is hard to backmost against an electrical France outfit who person scored 2 oregon much goals successful 16 of their past 17 planetary matches.

Les Bleus’ devastating violative firepower should yet beryllium excessively overmuch for Paraguay, successfully unlocking a resilient backline that famously stifled Germany to unafraid their spot successful the quarter-finals.

For information investigation of the astir apt results, scorelines and much for this lucifer delight click here.