Mbappé Gets Gritty In Philly: 4 Takeaways From France’s Win Over Paraguay

In 1776, the French played a pivotal role in helping the Americans gain independence. Now 250 years later, on the fourth of July and in the city of Philadelphia where the Declaration of Independence was signed, France used that as a motivator and, through hard work and perseverance, it came out victorious against a stubborn Paraguay with a hard-fought 1-0 win thanks to Kylian Mbappé’s penalty shot. This wasn’t a classic French win, but it was a gritty one, born out of necessity as opposed to style. There was some drama and an unnecessary scuffle, but the two-time champions came through. As a result, France is once again in the quarterfinal stage of the World Cup. It is its fourth straight appearance in the last eight. And now comes a tasty matchup against Morocco on Thursday in Boston. For Paraguay, it leaves with its head high, with the remarkable win over Germany as a great gift to take back to Asunción. Here are my takeaways. 1. Great Teams Find A Way To Win I will get to Paraguay’s plan and how it made it difficult against France in a moment, but there’s no doubt that, despite the win, today was a wake-up call for France. It knows that it has to do more in order to persevere. France won but struggled to find its identity. Think about this. Per FotMob, France attempted the most shots outside the box at the World Cup due to Paraguay’s low-block. France has to figure out how to break these teams faster than in this match. I think this win came as a result of Deschamps halftime talk, pushing his team to be more adventurous. That’s why Désiré Doué’s introduction in the 61st minute was key. The PSG star won the penalty with a wonderful, individual dribbling run inside the box and forced the foul inside the box. Sometimes, you have to let your players express themselves and be risky in attack. And that’s exactly what happened. 2. Good On Mbappé For Staying Cool The French superstar and captain scored the penalty that made it 1-0 and sealed the victory for his team. It was his 7th goal of the tournament, making him level with Lionel Messi but also, and amazingly, he is now one goal behind Messi’s all-time World Cup scoring record (20) with 19 goals. The fact that it’s Messi’s sixth World Cup and this is only Mbappé’s third is unbelievable. But was also impressive is Mbappé not falling into some of the gamesmanship of Paraguay’s defenders. He kept his composure at the end of some tough physical contact that was meant to fluster and throw off the star. He often did it with either a smile or a smirk, knowing that it was all part of the strategy to get under his skin. 3. Paraguay’s Defensive Strategy Was Right Call Paraguay knows who it is and what it can and cannot do. And against France, clearly a stronger team with the ball, it decided to create a formidable wall, denying the two-time World Cup champion from making a shot on target until the 55th minute. It packed the box with six to seven players and never allowed Mbappé, Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembélé to get into rhythm. It often broke passes and did a lot of off-the-ball work to keep the French at bay, relying fully on the counter. The Guaraní ended up losing as, due to the heat and France’s inevitable talent, it was just too hard to continue with the same level of vigor and resilience. Regardless, even though it bows out of the competition, it can be very proud of what it achieved at this tournament. 4. Do Les Bleus Need A Plan B As It Goes Further? Next for France is Morocco, a team that loves to play with the ball, so the Atlas Lions will be a better-suited matchup than Paraguay due to the opponent’s philosophies. But after that, who knows? Deschamps knows that other teams might prove to be extremely stubborn in the final third and make it very difficult to get the ball moving. France is the kind of team that doesn’t need to adjust just because of its core of talent, especially the attacking line. However, if any other opponent takes on France and imitates Paraguay’s strategy, Les Bleus have to find a more direct approach in the future. It also has to protect the ball in a better way as the latter stages showed careless work in the midfield. I think Morocco – who lost to France in the 2022 semifiinals – will look at this and take multiple notes.