A strong Paraguay fan group showed up, but the France supporters like Thompson—whether they were wearing Les Bleus kits, or the Stars and Stripes—walked away from the Fourth of July football festival satisfait. France survived Paraguay’s physical gameplan to beat La Albirroja, the red and white, 1-0 to advance to play Morocco, which shut out Canada on Saturday 3-0, in a quarterfinal on July 9 in Foxboro, Mass. France superstar Kylian Mbappé converted a penalty in the 70th minute to make the difference. Mbappé is now tied with Lionel Messi for the World Cup lead in goals scored, with 7. Messi plays in the Round of 16 on July 7, against Egypt, in Atlanta.
Fans expecting brilliant French offense in the Philadelphia Stadium sweatbox had reason to be disappointed. Les Bleus put at least three goals on the board in each of their four World Cup games coming into the Paraguay clash, while outscoring their opponents (Senegal, Iraq, Norway, and Sweden) 13-2. Paraguay, however, came in looking to limit France’s chances, by any means necessary—even if that meant knocking French players to the ground, seemingly at every opportunity.