Paraguay came under fierce criticism after their 1-0 World Cup loss to France, with their approach condemned as “disgraceful” and “embarrassing.”
Facing one of the tournament favourites, Paraguay appeared intent on disrupting France at every turn, using a combative game plan that included persistent fouling, alleged time-wasting and attempts to unsettle Les Bleus with physical and provocative play.
Among the flashpoints were incidents in which the penalty spot was scuffed, Dayot Upamecano was caught by an elbow to the ribs, Jules Kounde was struck in the face, and Michael Olise was seemingly targeted with theatrical reactions designed to get him dismissed. Despite the repeated confrontations, Uzbekistani referee Ilgiz Tantashev did not show Paraguay a single yellow card.
France, meanwhile, finished with three players booked. Olise, Bradley Barcola and Manu Koné all received yellow cards as the two-time world champions were pulled into a scrappy and ill-tempered contest in Philadelphia.
The reaction in the BBC studio was scathing. Former England goalkeeper Joe Hart did not hold back, saying: “The Paraguayan players were an absolute disgrace tonight, if they were on my team I’d be dragging half of them off the pitch.”
Hart added: “I would never want to win that way, I would never want to play football that way and the referee didn’t help in any of the circumstances.”
Matias Galarza is pictured making a heavy challenge on Kylian Mbappe, which went unpunished
Tensions spilled over after the final whistle as players from both sides clashed near the centre circle
‘The fact that not one Paraguayan today was booked inside the 90 minutes is absolutely astonishing.
‘But fair play to France, you can see what it means, sometimes you can play beautiful football but when you grind out a result as a team and do it like they did tonight, it’s superb.’
Some of the French players were clearly incensed by their treatment but managed to just about keep a lid on their emotions and avoid a red card that the Paraguayans were trying to provoke them into.
Things eventually boiled over after the final whistle as the two sets of players scrapped near the centre circle and Kylian Mbappe had a ball thrown at him by Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill.
It is believed Gill went to shake the France star’s hand but was ignored by the centre forward.
The Real Madrid man had appeared to taunt the opposition keeper after he tucked away the winning penalty roughly 20 minutes earlier, before the pair exchanged some heated words.
And following the ball-throwing incident, several players from both sets of teams were involved in a fracas near the center circle.
After the game, Mbappe, who scored the winner from the spot, said: ‘If they tell us to f**k off, we will also tell them to f**k off.’
Uzbekistani referee Ilgiz Tantashev shows Michael Olise a yellow card. Paraguay escaped without receiving a single booking
It is believed Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill attempted to shake Mbappe’s hand but was ignored by the centre forward
In response he seemed to throw the ball at the Real Madrid star as tempers flared
He went on to add: ‘If we have to get our hands dirty, we’ll do it. Apologies for the expression.
‘They thought we’d just turn up in tuxedos, make a few flashy moves and play a few passes.
‘We know how to play rough football too. And that’s exactly what we did today – we won. We were even better than them at that.’
Gill, meanwhile, admitted he briefly lost his temper when his handshake offer was snubbed.
‘I gave him my hand to congratulate him but he ignored me. Obviously I entered a heated moment, but that’s all I did. After that, I calmed down,’ he explained.
‘I just wanted to congratulate them. The truth is, they’ve had an excellent campaign as they’re the favorites to be world champions.’
Micah Richards agreed with Hart’s assessment and said he was disappointed because Paraguay’s win over Germany showed they did not need to resort to poor discipline to win.
He explained: ‘Paraguay are better than that though. Defensively they were so good, they were organised, they don’t need to get into these sort of antics, it was embarrassing to see and I think Joe was exactly right.
Mbappe and Co were able to keep their cool in the face of relentless provocation
Joe Hart, Thomas Hitzlsperger and Micah Richards piled into the Paraguay team
‘All those tactics and the s***housery that they showed, they didn’t need to do it. They tried to draw France into that and France nearly did but in the end they behaved in the right fashion.
‘It was too much tonight, there should have been at least five or six yellow cards in that game. Ultimately, France won’t care because they got through to the next round.’
Former Aston Villa and West Ham midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger was also in the studio and said he’d lost respect for Paraguay.
‘I had a lot of respect for Paraguay heading into the game and I’m glad my vocabulary in English is not that good because Joe has said ‘disgraceful’, I have various other words in German but not English’, he said.
‘I have little to no respect anymore for this Paraguay team, the way they behaved on the penalty incident.
‘If you’re from Paraguay you probably like that team and see them as warriors, if you’re a French supporter or neutral you can’t have any respect anymore for the way they behaved, this is not just disgraceful, this is even worse.
‘That Mbappe and everyone walked off the pitch uninjured to me is just a miracle and the referee gave the worst performance I’ve seen in this tournament.’
The Athletic’s Oliver Kay said on X: ‘Shocked by some of the refereeing we’ve seen at this World Cup — France v Paraguay a case in point.
Join the discussion
Should teams be punished for using dirty tactics to win matches, or is it just part of football?
Galarza feigns injury in an attempt to get Michael Olise sent off in the second half
France players were left frustrated with Paraguay’s violent approach to the last 16 game
‘Did the rules change, or did Collina, Infantino & FIFA just decide after opening game that they didn’t want World Cup to be “ruined” by yellow/ red cards?’
Sky Sports’ Dougie Critchley added: ‘Sides aren’t playing for your entertainment, they’re playing to win. This is the method they thought was best.’
France have been the most impressive team of the World Cup so far but had to show a different side to their game on Saturday night.
The composure in the face of hostility and provocation should serve Deschamps’ men well with tough battles to come and next up they face Morocco in the quarter-finals.
