Deschamps: Paraguay Tough Challenge For France

France's head coach Didier Deschamps acknowledged that beating Paraguay was no easy task, revealing he had to deploy extra players to protect Kylian Mbappé. France edged past Paraguay 1-0 in the 2026 World Cup Round of 16 on July 4, with Mbappé scoring in the 70th minute. The victory sent the former runners-up into the quarterfinals to face Morocco on July 9.

After the match, Deschamps commented on his team's performance: "It wasn't easy at all. They used every trick in the book—it wasn't the kind of football designed to excite spectators, but they defended well. It's always difficult facing South American teams like that. Certainly, if we had converted our last two chances into goals, the situation would have been better."

"I don't want to criticize Paraguay, but each team plays the way they need to," he continued. "That said, there was some abusive language from their bench, which I didn't want to see happen."

Deschamps also emphasized that the match ended without major conflict and France avoided additional yellow cards. "The most important thing is that the game ended without any serious trouble, and we didn't receive any additional yellow cards. We picked up three yellows from multiple fouls. I'm not saying we didn't commit fouls, but both teams fouled each other heavily."

The 57-year-old coach also revealed that he instructed two of his largest players to surround and protect Mbappé late in the game due to concerns about hard tackles. "I ordered two of our biggest players to stand around Kylian in the final stages because they were going to try to stop him," Deschamps said.