‘Paraguay players were an absolute disgrace’: South American side slam France after World Cup exit

Paraguay’s Matias Galarza (23) talks with France’s Kylian Mbappe (10) (AP Photo/Martin Meissner) France booked their place in the quarter-finals of the World Cup with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Paraguay, but much of the post-match attention focused on Paraguay’s behavior rather than the result.After impressing fans by knocking out Germany on penalties in the previous round, Paraguay faced criticism for their aggressive tactics in a heated and ferocious match in Philadelphia. Speaking to BBC One, former England goalkeeper Joe Hart said: “The Paraguay players were an absolute disgrace. If they were in my team I would have dragged them off the pitch.”Several incidents involving Paraguay players went unpunished, including challenges against Adrien Rabiot and Kylian Mbappe, while France players received several yellow cards. Former England defender Micah Richards said: “It was embarrassing to see. Paraguay are better than that. They were so good defensively and they didn’t need to get into that antics.”The decisive moment of the match came 20 minutes after Desire Doue was brought down in the box. After reviewing the incident on a monitor, referee Ilgiz Tantashev awarded France a penalty.Paraguay’s players protested strongly and tried to delay the free-kick, with Gustavo Velazquez even trying to damage the penalty spot before Mbappe converted to score his seventh goal of the tournament, leveling Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot.France coach Didier Deschamps later revealed: “There were some insults from the other bench that we could have done without.”The tension continued after the final whistle as the players clashed again. Former Scotland winger Pat Nevin summed up Paraguay’s approach by saying: “Paraguay tried to stretch the France player, little pushes and nudges, but not enough to get a yellow card. Every black art you can use.”France will now face Morocco in the quarter-finals.