France star Kylian Mbappé shrugged off Paraguay's constant provocations with a smile before delivering the decisive blow, lifting France to a gritty 1-0 World Cup victory on a scorching Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.
After celebrating the win that put France in the quarterfinals, Mbappé sent a message to the other teams left at the World Cup, saying his side can also get its "hands dirty" and adjust to "ugly" tactics.
"We knew what kind of match we were going to have," Mbappé said in French. "We can also get our hands dirty, we know how to do it. We know how to play ugly football. Guess they were thinking we were going to show up in tuxedos, but we were ready."
With an extreme heat warning in effect throughout the match as temperatures hovered around 100 degrees, Mbappé finally broke through against a physical, defensive-minded Paraguay side when he converted a penalty kick in the 70th minute.
That was enough for Les Bleus, whose red-, white- and blue-clad fans looked plenty patriotic on July Fourth in the city where the United States was founded 250 years ago.
Mbappé, 27, has seven goals in this World Cup, tied with Lionel Messi, and 19 in his 19 World Cup matches -- just one behind the Argentine, who holds the record for the most goals scored in the competition. Mbappé also became the only player to score at least three goals in the knockout stage of three World Cups.
France midfielder Rayan Cherki, who came on as a substitute late in the game, shared Mbappé's opinion on Paraguay's physical style.
"We knew that today, we would show our technical and tactical abilities less. We reminded everyone that the France team is not just about football. If you go to war with us, this is the response you can expect," Cherki said.
Things remained heated after the match. Players from both sides converged near the center circle, and Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill threw a ball at Mbappé's back.
"I tried to shake his hand, but since he didn't pay me any attention, I lost my temper," Gill said.
Les Bleus scored 13 goals in the first five games of the tournament but were stymied by a Paraguay team trying to turn the match into a rock fight.
France coach Didier Deschamps said after the match: "It wasn't easy. If we'd taken one of our chances late in the game, it would have been a much more comfortable finish.
"Paraguay use every trick in the book. It's not necessarily the kind of football people enjoy watching, but we stayed focused, and that's not easy to do."
There also appeared to be bad words uttered in Spanish on the pitch, with Mbappé and Matías Galarza verbally sparring at one point.
"We fought a battle," France defender William Saliba said. "We won the battle."
France advanced to play Morocco in the quarterfinals Thursday in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
