Key events<\/p>\n
Penalty to France<\/p>\n
Paraguay have no legitimate complaint. They think it\u2019s a dive? Wrong.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n ON-FIELD REVIEW and it would take some tortured logic to avoid giving a penalty here.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n -65 min Good run from Dou\u00e9, who takes a tumble in the box.<\/p>\n We have a foot race the other way, and Saliba outruns Almiron, who falls from exhaustion.<\/p>\n VAR check. This has to be a PK.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a018.31 EDT<\/p>\n 64 min Dou\u00e9 falls just outside the box, but the referee is not impressed. Replay shows the ref absolutely missed it, and the Referee Cam shows it was all but impossible to miss that.<\/p>\n Mbapp\u00e9 shoots from distance, apparently at a different goal somewhere in the third row.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 63 min \u201cThey\u2019re playing with a confidence and belief right now,\u201d John Strong says of Paraguay<\/a> as they take a throw-in in the their own half, bang it upfield and immediately turn it over.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 60 min Enciso is down and gesturing that he\u2019d like to be replaced. Caballero comes in.<\/p>\n France were already lining up a sub \u2013 Dou\u00e9 replaces Barcola.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Paraguay have completed 55% of their passes. Just 60 complete to France\u2019s 346.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 59 min G\u00f3mez flat-out strips it from Mbapp\u00e9. France<\/a> quickly regain it and go up the field.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 58 min SUB for Paraguay<\/a> \u2013 it\u2019s Canale for \u2026 well, Alderete is down. Is it him? Yes. He\u2019s trudging off very slowly, which should mean that the sub has to wait a minute but that has been erratically enforced. Basically, if you can claim an injury, you get away with it. Sometimes.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 57 min Corner kick is an inswinger that Gill adeptly grabs.<\/p>\n Paraguay string together 5-6 passes, but that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 56 min France claim it back and honestly may have been holding Almir\u00f3n. They combine on the left and earn their 10th corner kick. That\u2019s a lot.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 55 min SAVE by Gill. A strong, slightly swerving Kon\u00e9 shot up toward the top of the net, and Gill has to punch it away for a corner.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 54 min Gill is back up to take the goal kick. France<\/a> claim the ball quickly.<\/p>\n Funny how good teams have players that immediately win the ball back, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n What a wild sequence that was. Maignan\u2019s distribution was magnificent, a 60-yard punt that landed in front of the onrushing Mbapp\u00e9 in stride.<\/p>\n Juan Jose Caceres clears from Mbapp\u00e9. Photograph: Kyle Ross\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a018.21 EDT<\/p>\n 51 min Maignan punches it up in the sky. Over to the other side for a Paraguayan throw that goes all the way into the 6-yard box.<\/p>\n Maignan catches that throw and immediately sends up the field for Mbapp\u00e9, who is past the defense! He misplays it up into his own arm but wins a corner while Paraguay yell for a handball. France<\/a> take it quickly with only two players up the field, and Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 runs into Gill, who\u2019s down.<\/p>\n Ousmane Dembele shoots wide after a quick corner. Photograph: Buda Mendes\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a018.19 EDT<\/p>\n 50 min Corner to Paraguay! Long ball catches France unaware, and Almir\u00f3n knocks the ball off a defender.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 49 min Rabiot really shouldn\u2019t have the green light to shoot. That\u2019s another one he has sent flying like any number of military aircraft on July 4.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 48 min Better from France<\/a>. A couple of decent touches in and around the box.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 47 min The \u201cpasses in final third\u201d stat is astounding.<\/p>\n And we resume with France<\/a> adding to it.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Dan Sensay: \u201cSomething a lot of people forget or just don\u2019t know is that the average climate in Paraguay<\/a> is extremely hot and humid. They have an advantage in these conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n And our last word at halftime \u2026<\/p>\n Peter Oh: \u201cLibert\u00e9, \u00c9galit\u00e9, Fraternit\u00e9, Irrit\u00e9!\u201d<\/p>\n With that, we\u2019re back \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n A few more<\/p>\n Samuel Hole: \u201cUnless you\u2019re Paraguayan I cannot see how one could support this team. There is no will to play, create etc. They seem to have a bad spirit. Shoving, fouling. Please bring up the lack of control the ref has on this game.\u201d<\/p>\n Aditya Anchuri: \u201cYou have to take your hat off to this Paraguay team. Faced with opposition miles better than them, they\u2019ve so far adopted the oldest trick in the book \u2014 get in their faces, rattle them and try to upset them.\u201d<\/p>\n Whitepass: \u201cDon\u2019t be too quick to laugh at France<\/a>, Beau. They might come back after the break to put this match to bed, like Moroccans did against Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n Though in that case, Morocco weren\u2019t doing anything of interest themselves.<\/p>\n Anand: \u201cStrange half. France seem to have had possession without purpose. The lack of space has almost left them blank without ideas on how to make inroads. Curious to see what DD comes up with in the 2nd half. Are we in for another shoot out?<\/p>\n Russell Eberts: \u201cIt\u2019s 97\u00b0 and humid. What could anyone expect from this game? It seems increasingly absurd that the open-air stadiums are being used for mid-day matches during an American summer. I grew up in Indiana, whose climate is similar to the East Coast\u2019s. There are no nice days between May and September. It\u2019s either hot and humid or there are thunderstorms. The choice of host cities and kickoff times will lead to more and more matches like this, particularly as we go deeper into the tournament. It\u2019s as predictable as it is asinine.\u201d<\/p>\n I wouldn\u2019t have minded hosting this Cup solely in Atlanta and Yellowknife.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Lots of mail <\/p>\n Richard: \u201cThe French guy rolling around as if he\u2019d been decapitated. Totally ignored by the ref so he gets up as if nothing had happened. Very good reffing this world cup, until it gets to the advert break and then the ref should overrule it.\u201d<\/p>\n In THIS game, I don\u2019t mind it. (In fact, Dylan Wilbanks wrote in to that effect.) I was at the 2008 Olympic final in Beijing, where the stadium doubled as a convection oven. I think that was the first use of hydration breaks in a major event, but all I remember was that it was hot.<\/p>\n Colin Livingstone: \u201cI feel like the ball might be put out more often in a gentlemanly manner, were we not deluged with constant simulation. Miraculous recoveries are pretty much an \u201cevery game\u201d event. While the refs have worked hard this tournament to keep the game flowing, I believe they have overcorrected and multiple clear fouls or even bookings have not been given. Balance is hard to get right but we never seem to adjust sensibly but swing from one extreme to the other.\u201d<\/p>\n 100%, but this is also valid:<\/p>\n Michael Hayen: \u201cBeau, you seem to have rose coloured glasses on. In the good old days players constantly lay down to get the game stopped. Continuing play has significantly reduced stoppages for \u2018injuries\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe Pearson: \u201cThe whole \u2018leave the dead where they fall\u2019 behavior seems to be one of many \u2018speed up the game\u2019 adjustments. As players have gotten used to simulating injury to stop play, the whole \u2018get up, your faker\u2019 may be taking it too far, but I like it.\u201d<\/p>\n Also in the mail: Nice compliment to all Guardian MBM people from Atlanta in my home state of Georgia.<\/p>\n Rick McGahey: \u201cRef doing a poor job controlling this match, he didn\u2019t whistle that blatant foul against Mbapp\u00e9 soon enough, and then was late to the push and subsequent scrum that stopped play. Paraguayans, not surprisingly, are just going to ground or picking scraps with the French players whenever they can, kind of like watching Atl\u00e9tico Madrid.\u201d<\/p>\n Irritation is now a tactic.<\/p>\n Chris Bubb: \u201cI\u2019ve seen this playbook from Paraguay in numerous Premier League matches over the years. It\u2019s effective but I don\u2019t like it. Makes for an ugly match when only one side is playing with any ambition. Would much prefer to watch Cape Verde.\u201d<\/p>\n There should be a mechanism in which fans can choose one quarterfinalist to eliminate and replace with a team they\u2019d much prefer to see.<\/p>\n Charles Antaki: \u201cFor Arsenal fans, all this is triggering memories of Stoke City versus Arsenal, Premier League 2010: Paraguay in the Stoke City strip, of course, and Stoke City players acting the spoilers, as are Paraguay. Memorable not just for the home team\u2019s general nastiness, but especially for a particularly vicious tackle breaking Aaron Ramsay\u2019s leg, to the great amusement of the locals. Hopefully not a portent of things to come here.\u201d<\/p>\n On a less dire note \u2026<\/p>\n Niall Mullen: \u201cIt is a shame we won\u2019t get to see Paraguay play Ghana at this World Cup<\/a>. It would be great to see two teams staring suspiciously at the spherical thing on the centre spot for the full 120 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n I think that\u2019d be more entertaining than Canada-Morocco.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Halftime: France 0-0 Paraguay<\/p>\n Well, that was simply dreadful.<\/p>\n Mauricio Pocchetino must be laughing hysterically at the billions of dollars\u2019 worth of talent on the field having no success duplicating what his far-less-heralded charges did in Game 1.<\/p>\n France coach Didier Deschamps walks off at half-time. Photograph: Dylan Martinez\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a018.02 EDT<\/p>\n 45 min +2 Mbapp\u00e9 is making poor decisions now. Faced with two defenders in front of him and several passing options around him, he opts to try to place the ball between the two defenders. When a player in Major League Soccer does that, it\u2019s held up as an example of how bad Major League Soccer is.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 45 min +1 Lovely French backheel to Enciso, though he unfortunately only plays his club ball in France and is not a member of their team. Paraguay<\/a> push forward to little effect.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 45 min +1 Rabiot gets bored and shoots. Deflected and collected.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll have only three minutes of stoppage time because we had nothing of interest to take up any time.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 45 min Good steal by Paraguay<\/a>, and they\u2019re off to the \u2026 never mind.<\/p>\n But they steal again, and France\u2019s backline scramble back.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 43 min Kon\u00e9 takes a few nice touches to create a shooting angle and then shoots way over the bar. Le sigh.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 42 min We need three feeds now so we can catch some of the off-the-ball shenanigans.<\/p>\n Paraguay are doing well, though, to push a second defender toward the man with the ball, forcing quicker passes than France want to play.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 41 min Good work on the right for France<\/a>, and Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 earns a corner.<\/p>\n An assistant ref reminds a Paraguayan that he must be 10 yards away.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 40 min On the corner kick, C\u00e1ceres wraps an arm around Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s neck, but as we all know, that\u2019s legal now. I\u2019m not even going to try refereeing this fall.<\/p>\n Mbapp\u00e9 barks quite a bit at his opponents as the ball goes the other way. Briefly. France<\/a> possess again.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 38 min CHANCE for France<\/a> on a quick break up the field. Replays shows Galarza smacked Mbapp\u00e9 in the face while the ball was elsewhere, but the referee \u2026 didn\u2019t see or didn\u2019t care. Anyway, France get a shot deflected wide for a corner.<\/p>\n Kylian Mbappe reacts in pain next to referee Ilgiz Tantashev. Photograph: Jewel Samad\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.58 EDT<\/p>\n 37 min Here\u2019s a suggestion \u2013 every time the broadcast feed misses an action that warrants anything in any statistical count, Fifa must pay the local organizing committee $1bn.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 36 min First save of the game? France take the free kick, it\u2019s badly cleared across the goal mouth but headed out. Corner kick, out to Kound\u00e9 for a long effort that bounces into Gill\u2019s arms. For some reason, a Paraguayan player is down, and we don\u2019t see what happens next because TV.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 35 min Fight! Fight! Fight! It\u2019ll be a free kick for France<\/a> after Cubas grabs Mbapp\u00e9 with what appears to be three arms. Mbapp\u00e9 gets up, and Cubas starts a shoving match for some reason and is immediately joined by about eight teammates.<\/p>\n Kylian Mbappe has words with Gustavo Gomez. Photograph: Buda Mendes\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.44 EDT<\/p>\n 34 min Long free kick for Paraguay<\/a>, easily snared by Maignan, and his attempt to get the ball up the field is rudely interrupted.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 33 min Rabiot decides to take France\u2019s xG up over 0.1 by launching one from 35 yards out, way high.<\/p>\n We have a foul at the other end, which you wouldn\u2019t know if you\u2019re watching the world broadcast feed that occasionally decides not to show us the live action.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 32 min xG so far: 0.05 to 0.03. Sometimes, that stat is deceptive. Sometimes, it\u2019s not. Paraguay<\/a> have defended very effectively so far. The USA scored four against this bunch?<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 31 min CHANCE for France. Paraguay<\/a> lose sight of Mbapp\u00e9, who rises for a header but isn\u2019t quite up for it.<\/p>\n Kylian Mbappe rises with Diego Gomez. Photograph: Odd Andersen\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.46 EDT<\/p>\n 29 min Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 crosses to an unknown target, but it\u2019s awkwardly deflected.<\/p>\n Barcola grabs Almir\u00f3n\u2019s shirt, and the Paraguayan falls with such apparent distress that the referee stops play! Paraguay<\/a> take the free kick and immediately give it back.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 28 min Almir\u00f3n says, \u201cI beat you Philadelphia Union players all the time\u201d and beats the defense down one flank. His cross isn\u2019t great, but it leads to a deflected long-range shot and a missed long-range shot. I think the xG on those is more than what Morocco had after scoring three goals. Which is to say about 0.000003.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 27 min A touch for France\u2019s goalkeeper!<\/p>\n