The French team advanced to the World Cup quarter-finals with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Paraguay, but most of the attention after the game was focused on Paraguay’s performance rather than the result.Paraguay impressed fans by knocking out Germany on penalties in the last round, but were criticized for their aggressive tactics in a fiery and ill-tempered game in Philadelphia. Speaking to BBC One, former England goalkeeper Joe Hart said without hesitation: “The Paraguayan players are an absolute disgrace. If they were in my team I would drag them off the pitch.”Several incidents involving Paraguayan players have gone unpunished, including challenges on Adrien Rabiot and Kylian Mbappewhile the French players received multiple yellow cards. Former England defender Micah Richards said: “It’s really embarrassing to see. Paraguay is better than this. Their defense is so good that they don’t need to make these antics. “The decisive moment of the game came with 20 minutes left when Desire Douai was brought down in the penalty area. Referee Ilgiz Tantashev awarded France a penalty after reviewing the incident on a monitor.Paraguayan players protested and tried to delay the penalty, with Gustavo Velasquez even trying to disrupt the spot, but Mbappe scored his seventh goal of the World Cup to tie Messi in the race for the Golden Boot.France coach Didier Deschamps later revealed: “We could have done some insults without anyone else on the bench.”After the final whistle, players from both sides clashed again and the tension continued. Former Scotland winger Pat Nevin summed up Paraguay’s approach, saying: “Paraguay tried to force the French players, there was some pushing and shoving, but not enough to get a yellow card. You can use every dark art.”France will now face Morocco in the quarter-finals.
