Paraguay vs France, kick-off 10pm - Philadelphia, USA

Nah, Morocco got through, Canada as bad as they were almost the moral winners,France would muller them on tonights showing.

How do you rate Canada? who were more than a match for Morocco for large spells.

Morocco will play like Paraguay against France.

Glad to see another thug south american side kicked out - go back home to your ratholes along with Uraguay.

No chance, Morocco actually know how to pass, move and generate attacks, they will take it to France the same way they took it to Brazil

Probably, but they are better than Paraguay at both ends.

how can you be trying to destroy the penalty Spot and not be removed from the Game ? unreal  linesman .video assistant Someone must have seen it

Ref should never be allowed another top level match after that too...

It wasn't just the refs, it was the other officials not seeing anything off the ball and not drawing the refs attention to anything that was going in, and VAR never got involved either with any potential incidents other than the pen

The way they took it to Canada today? Both sides will play cagey. Deschamps always does against sides he's wary of going a goal down against.

Imagine waiting for a Paraguayan booking in a bet builder.

They were hardly like what Paraguay was today, Morocco were playing football. Canada actually did ok, just no real quality

Apparently the ref is the best they have in Uzbekistan, fck knows how bad the second best must be

What about the worst?

been A great world cup then the spoilers get Involved , no doubt Booming  Speakers drums and Engines Surrounding our Boys Hotel for the next 24 hours ,

I would not fancy being a Fan at the Game TBH

Morocco were woeful in the first half. Couldn't deal with Canada's press, played zero football

Are we Sure putin has not had him Cloned , he don't like manny

The ref in the England Mexico game represents Australia, but he's Iranian, good job we didn't pander to Trump and go full throttle into war with Iran

Paul Robinson sporting a Bobby Charlton hair do these days.

they have a change of gear lurka , fo ok knows what was going on 1st half

But do you really think Morocco are going deploy the dark arts to win a game against France? that's not their style from what I've seen, they may not have reached previous levels like the first half v Brazil, but they're not gonner kick France off the pitch.

I don't think Morocco will play football and be as tight at the back as Paraguay. On or the other and the latter is what they will do.

Could be a trump supporter Mes , many are in Iran

Dark Arts. Did you not watch Morocco in the last WC? They are not going to play against superior teams in a KO game, the group is different. They will play for pens

Morocco took it to Brazil for a short spell only, aided by Brazil's early slackness. Once Brazil improved, their dominant spell was a distant memory. The bottom line, Morocco will be more worried about facing France than France them.

Got more ole Bill outside the England hotel than there
is in the Met.

You could tell by ref's body language and responses he knew exactly what he was doing - for some reason, do not book a Paraguay player during the match....make your own reasons as to why...

Oddly I actually won my bookings bet (3+ cards) but only because he booked the 3 French players!

Maybe his wife is from Paraguay and the rumpo rations were threatened to be withdrawn……..

They have a different manager from the last World Cup and only 6 players here from the last squad, haven't seen Morocco as a dirty team so far, they look to play football most of the time, Brazil have superior attacking players to them but they took it to them, before it petered out through the second off.

Think its Going to Be carnage tomorrow night , we Win or lose

well done Stu

Morocco also lost their top scorer Saibari in the first half today, looks like a hamstring and him being out against France.

Why are you talking about them being dirty? Defending deep and wasting time etc, ie dark arts does not mean you are dirty.

cheers nanny - spent whole match seething that I would lose it though

Is that the same ref who let WWE and rugby league tackles go in the Scotland game?

Yes it was…..

You said Morocco will play like Paraguay, thought you were talking about the feigning of injury, falling over when touched, digs to ribs etc.

I've seen 3 Morocco games, v Brazil, v Scotland, v Canada, they just look to be a good footballing team, overrated going by some people's predictions that they could go all the way, doubt it, they will lose to France, but lose at least trying to attack in Score and not parking the bus.

Everything about Paraguay, and nothing about how poor France were? They were very short to win this match, and needed an idiot challenge to get the win. Nothing classy at all. So many sides seem fine on the counter attack, but struggle to break down organised sides. We saw that in both games today.

So, FIFA saw this cretin being wholly incompetent in a group game. And they decide to give him another chance, potentially getting the best team in the World kicked off the pitch and out of the Tournament! Who the f**k is appointing these clowns? I genuinely don't understand it.

France were poor indeed, for the first time in the tournament. Could not create anything until after they were gifted a penalty.

Perhaps that will be the only time, but another performance like that would likely be their last.

Morocco are not going to go toe to toe against France.
Against Brazil it was the 1st half of the 1st game in a group. They can afford to lose it and still get 6 points from the other games (which they did). This is a KO game against a team who scored against them after 5 mins in the last WC SF and blew their park the bus game plan, which worked against Spain and Portugal, out the window.
They are better on the ball than they were 4 years ago against teams like Scotland, Haiti and Canada but not France. They are not stupid.

They are missing their best striker and even if they had him, you do not bring a pea-shooter to a gunfight. You think they watched tonight and thought let's not play like Paraguay and cause France problems no other team has?

didn't say they will go toe to toe all game long, just that they will not be like Paraguay who were playing for penalties from the first whistle and tried to slow the game down at every single opportunity, because Morocco are a far more talented side than Paraguay they will launch attacks and will not sit back for the whole match, though it is true that Saibari will be a miss.

In short, Morocco will have a more effective counter attack. The problem might be that they don't defend as well as the Paraguayans.

France would probably take that scenario.

I think Morocco will play for pens/try to nick a 1-0 with the emphasis on the former. If you open up more against France you will be more exposed and will not keep that front 4 quiet like Paraguay did tonight. Playing for pens is smart and Morocco are no mugs.

You don't want to go a goal down to either of these teams for diffferent reasons. Deschamps will play it cagey and rely on his defence rather than his attack like he did v URU and BEL in 2018

BBC 

France overcome stubborn Paraguay to reach quarter-final

stubborn , and they wonder why they need QR codes on the screen to raise the Tax

After Senegal, Iraq, Norway B and gungho Sweden, some tougher challenges for the best attacking team in the world against Paraguay, Morocco and possibly Spain.

Paraguay disgraced themselves.

Paraguay were the last of the teams to qualify in third place, to leave the tournament.

Playing acting on both sides
Where just as bad imo
It’s shameful
There wasn’t one stamp or rack
Knee try make out that the game was ill tempered
Cheating
As for chop waved his hand at few player
Wasn’t exactly like the geyser out of enter the dragon ffs
Tarts running about

I have not watched this match but ex players who know where the boundaries are between "professional" fouls and outright cheating are furious about what they saw from Paraguay. It is probably a more extreme version of the worldwide loss of sportsmanship to the win at any price mentality that now exists in most countries. Things may have changed since my last visit to South America in 2010 but I was a director of a business in Brazil that was not that far (5 hour drive) from Iguacu which is partly in Paraguay. At that time if a thief succeeded in stealing a car in Brazil or Argentina and reached the border with Paraguay, it became a Paraguayan vehicle legally. A very much cheaper way to import cars than by official means.

I thought the media reaction was over top hysteria, “ miracle nobody was seriously injured” when ?
There was no excessive over the top challenges, the potential scenario did not occur in match.
Maybe they all bet France ht ft or minus 1
Bad sportsmanship from both sides big deal
Brawl ? Handbags in my opinion

It’s that South American thing. Were they go all nutty, leave their foot in, make sure they’re late in the tackle. Been at it since year dot

it was that dangerous dirty they saved all their big guns for bedwetting about someone trying to scuff the pen spot,when it comes to play acting/cheating/conning the reff ,dont worry aboutr mbappe and france they can hold their own with anyone , the elbow stephen warnock had a bedwet about didnt smash the french player in the jaw as warnock and the player tried to convince the reff it had

If people think that’s the last bit of bad sportsmanship they will see in World Cup then you are in for a shock when the stakes get really high, the “experts” at it will be there aplenty.

Remember a couple of world cups in the mid to late 70s and Brazil were well below their normal standard, and they were kicking lumps out of everyone they played. It’s South American thing

At least no one lost money on the game we could all see it was too hot ,and never going to be good game.

there is supposed to be a referee, 2 assistants and VAR to pick up foul play. I was not a serious football player but it seems to me that players are getting away with an awful lot of foul play. Is it really within the rules to grab a players shirt, to wrestle with an opponent during a corner, to surround and even manhandle the referee every time he blows the whistle? Simplify the rules and impose them 100%. And as for the off side rule, it is a farce. Every attacking player within 20 metres of the ball is interfering with play. A defender has to mark him.

Its shocking how they copy each other the stamping on the foot the hand in the face this was never a part of football.You would always shove the body and stamping on the foot never happen in the day.

brazil in germany  was worst brazil world cup ide went round clogging people,not ure if it was cruyfs/neekens playing for holland world cup

I agree with malay. Media went over the top to provide a smokescreen for how poor France were. They were also trying to push the idea that Mbappe is some sort of saint. That clearly isn't true. Laughing at the opposition isn't clever and just stirs the pot.

The set up for Morocco against France is ideal. They won't be taking the game to them at all. Paraguay had one guy in attack, but Morocco are likely to counter attack at pace with three or four. Totally different. Consequently, France will be concerned about committing too many players forward. I take the point that Morocco may not be as tight as Paraguay in defence, but let's face it Paraguay were never going to score playing like that.

The referees have been lenient in WC so far, I don’t think that’s a bad thing we don’t want it becoming non contact.
Going back to messing about with the penalty spot, I don’t even know if there is actually a law against that because maybe it’s never been considered as something a player would do.
However it’s easily resolved FIFA should make a statement and referee should go into dressing rooms before the match and tell players and managers, anybody F ing about with penalty spot is off.

think ppl expect underdogs to play a fair game and get tanked 5-0.

Take the "under" out are we are about where we should be

I see the BBC has changed its thoughts on the Game , they must have got hammered on Social Media

We have gone from stubborn to

France survive Paraguay's 'disgraceful' and 'embarrassing' dark arts

Paraguay's style of 'play' wouldn't have been an issue if the ref did his actual job at all - a few early yellows and the thugs would be walking on eggshells after that.

But this ref was intent on only considering a yellow if it was a France player. He allowed the bullying tactics to basically work for the full game, so France did very well to still win it.

Those knocking France, must be laying hard on their WC win price I presume on here?

You could say exactly the same about those ignoring the French performance. I haven't backed anyone.

As regards the referee, I think there was a fair amount of play acting from both sides, particularly from Mbappe.

But if people think France were poor then around 2.9 to win it all must be a lay, surely short?

France had a complicated challenge which they dealt with last night, their games going forward will I assume will be much different so I think last night’s game is irrelevant to what happens next. I think they are short enough but it’s not my type of bet to lay them.
Going back to South Americans have been the historical dirty men of football, some of greatest players to ply their trade in England had a serious nasty streak in them.
Not all English, Scottish and Irish

It was 40+ degrees. Nobody was going to look good playing in that. They won't have to face conditions like that again.

Blatant Cheating from this mob last night , trying to damage the penalty Spot Behind the refs back , Kicking slapping Players , Beppe dealt with them ,a very cool customer

referee a Disgrace needs to be removed from the Sport

there is tough football and thug football, all that was missing was the steel toe cap boots , Shocking and Good riddance

they played tough football against Germany and played it well , Weak ref anything Goes last night

What was even worse was their fans seemed delighted with what was going on , imagine supporting that

I wonder how many of the French lads will be unavailable for Morroco after getting kicked lumps out of and slapped up and down the place ,
Poor we souls must be scarred for life. It’s a cruel sport.

Was a little like the good old days!

Cant believe, Not a single yellow card given to Paraguay!!

That's it emit - we see yellows for looking at someone the wrong way these days, yet all those filth actions and not a single yellow card all game.

I don't think it went unnoticed at least this time - the Uzbek thing should be out of football if they can do any sort of assessment job on him (though that is also questionable)

The ref was totally out of his depth. This was evident from very early on. Paraguay recognised how weak he was and exploited it in every way they could. As football fans let's be thankful that his incompetence along with the unsportsmanlike tactics of the Paraguayans did not result in the loss of some of the most exciting players in the World to the Tournament. Would the people defending Paraguay's behaviour like to see the World Cup Final played between teams like France, Spain, Argentina or Brazil? Or would they rather see teams like Paraguay, Uzbekistan or South Africa blundering about kicking, elbowing, spitting and gouging their way to penalties with atrocious officials making it easy for them? France did not play well, but they were made to walk a very fine tightrope to get the win they deserved. With a ref as weak and incompetent as that anything can happen. And I, for one, am very relieved that they were not eliminated. I hope that we don't see that level of incompetence again in this tournament. If you have backed against France, maybe it will be your team who experience this treatment next time. And maybe you won't be so sanguine about the team you have backed to win the Tournament being knocked out by a bunch of thugs and a useless ref.

Uzbekistan - sounds like such trustworthy folk could come from that, don't it...

The greatest player the worlds ever seen done a much worse challenge in this tournament  than anything seen last night.
What was Shearer saying ? I remember him kicking Neil Lennon on head.
A load of dung being spoken.

In the cold light of day it was over blown what went on, the commentators were OTT, it is true that it is astonishing that no Paraguayans were booked and French were but nothing that went on could be compared to Leeds mid 70's for example. Warnock did show himself up over the non elbow in the face that the commentator tried to bail him out of. The insistence by the comms that Mbappe treated them correctly by laughing at them is complete nonsense, the best thing to do would have been to ignore everything with no reaction, sarcastic laughter would just serve to wind them up further and possible resulting in a proper injury.

It's not just the "dirty" South Americans that will resort to the dark arts, remember 2010 and Holland a team lauded in the game historically and yet were happy to resort to utter brutality in order to stop the great Spanish team in the final itself.

Reports confirmed that there was no South American in sight.

But how many yellows for that Netherlands side duffy?

Difference is a ref did their job at least in that game. It's all about the referee, not Paraguay who did as expected in being thugs.

Yeah, 9 and a red, but I'm not on about the ref as such, I'm railing against this idea of "how dare they" behave this way against the darling French, which there is an undercurrent of here, it's nauseating.

If this is the only way they think that they can gain an edge, then that's the way of it, French have the option of fighting fire with fire, if that's what it was.

As dd says, the glorious French were not able to open them up as they have been when afforded space in previous games and they are having excuses made for them because they got pushed around a bit, can anyone highlight a particular x rated challenge?

There was no bad challenges, they perhaps committed niggly fouls which they got away with but certainly didn’t warrant yellow cards.
It’s a thing we watch every week in England and think that should not be a foul never mind a yellow card.
Their tactics would put people off football and I never thought it would work in a game that could possibly last 130 minutes, but at least they didn’t roll over and lose 5 nil, they had a game plan and stuck to it.

A corrupt or gross negligent ref performance is actually more of interest to me than Paraguay being a bunch of rats ( which was fairly predictable)

How and why would there need to be a corrupt ref, to what end?

Ref might've had a bad game,don't mean he's corrupt.

If there was going to be any corruption involved, it would have been to protect the French, but if anyone still wants to pursue the notion of corruption to protect the Paraguayans then he would not have given the penalty regardless of what VAR showed him.

I said 'corrupt or gross negligent' - take your pick it was one of those.

He was clearly weak when it came to booking Paraguay, to my cost, I backed Caceres at 9/2 who I thought was a 2's on poke ad was begging to be booked, I thought I finally got it at the end but no

If the penalty incident happened at other end VAR would never have intervened, same as they never helped Scotland. FIFA want big guns there.
I think it was a penalty but so was Scotlands little difference between both scenarios.

Gross Negligence is quite a strong accusation to make, that’s a legal term used in court against company directors who don’t enforce health and safety laws on indictments when somebody dies or receives life changing injuries.
It’s hardly relevant to a referee making a decision you disagree with.
People are getting seriously losing the run of themselves here over a football match when best team and favs won.

Very odd to defend this ref Malay - surely even you can see he failed to do his job entirely there. The whole world of media has practically said so already if you read the news about him. Only a blind person could fail to see it in this match.

Not sure I’m defending referee, I think all referees have been lenient thus far in tournament on numerous occasions, he never gave penalty which was wrong decision but there have been other potential penalties not given in tournament, which were as much a penalty as that one.
Not much big deal made
I make my own opinions not what media say.
There were no dangerous challenges in that match even blind man could see that, there has been in other matches with limited punishment.
My  own opinions no sheep here.

He should have booked at least 8 Paraguay players, he booked zero, it was sheer incompetence.

Good job you are not a referee clubs would need squad of 100 players to fullfill fixture lists.

Pack it in ffs, anyone watching the game knows he should have booked a load of Paraguayan players,

Absolutely he should, doesn't explain why France couldn't break them down, what does explain it is no matter how explosive your players are when afforded open space to play in, it takes a group of players several more rungs up the technical ladder to break down an organized defence and France are not that they are just another side that look good in an open game but become stifled otherwise and that was clearly visible last night.

Don't get me wrong, there's no shame in it, it's the hardest thing in the game to do and only one national and one club side has ever been able to do it with any degree of success IMO.

Unless we bring in a rule whereby all sides must step out and try and play which it seems many of those who would prefer to see a French side cosseted all the way to the title, then we are stuck with games like this.

Absolutely he should, doesn't explain why France couldn't break them down

It does partly though - if Paraguay had been shackled with some (appropriate) earlier yellows, they would have to step back slightly from their thuggish style of breaking play up. Hence a different game would have happened, I think France more like 3 or 4 to nil likely.

Hopefully it will be a better match tonight Europe v South America no dark arts, attacking football and no referee complaints and England win.
Have my doubts complaining and being angry over nothing is trendy.

Brazil have never seemed to me as thuggish as some of the other SA sides like Paraguay or Uruguay - probably because they can actually play football.

That's the first one, both SA v Europe tonight.

Yep, let's move on

I don't think Brazil would ever be allowed to engage in the dark arts, it would be seen as heresy, theirs is a story of romance and mystique that all others aspire to and are in awe of, this team is most certainly not that but the problem is that they've got to try and always be that.

The Argentinians who played for Athletico Madrid against Celtic in European cup semi final in Glasgow kicked lumps out of Celtic but they were actually very talented players and beat Celtic easily in Spain return leg through skill, but we can say same about Italians talented players but well capable of laying boot in, when Maradona played for Napoli the lad who never kicked him was odd man out in seria A,