France qualified for the quarter-finals of the World Cup, with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Paraguay on Sunday, in the round of 16 of the tournament.

Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe scored the only goal of the match, which came in the 70th minute from a penalty kick, which the French national team got after returning to the video technology "VAR".

France will face Morocco, who beat Canada 3-0 in the round of 16 of the tournament.

The round of eight match between Morocco and France will be held on July 9 in Foxborough, Massachusetts, in a repeat of the semi-final match between them in the Qatar 2022 edition, which the French team won 2-1.

Mbappe is one goal away from Messi's World Cup tally

Leading France to a 1-0 win over Paraguay, Kylian Mbappe scored his 19th goal in the World Cup, surpassed only by Lionel Messi (20).

This is his 11th goal in the knockout stages, which is at least three more goals than any other player, and Mbappe shares with Messi the top scorers of this edition of the World Cup 7 each.

Numbers and statistics for the Roosters team

France have won all five of their matches at the 2026 World Cup, winning five in a row in a single major tournament for the second time in their history after Euro 1984.

France have won their last 8 matches in the round of 16 of the World Cup, and their last elimination in this round dates back to the 1934 edition, when they lost 3-2 to Austria after extra-time.

France won all eight of their matches in the United States, the country where they played the most matches with a 100 per cent win rate.

France scored 76 percent possession against Paraguay, their highest in a major tournament since Opta began collecting this data in 1966.

France scored their 150th goal at the World Cup, becoming the fourth team to reach this total after Brazil (246), Germany (243) and Argentina (163).

France have scored their last 17 penalties in all competitions (13 of them through Kylian Mbappe), with their last failure coming in June 2021 against Wales (Karim Benzema).

Paraguay have not won any of their seven World Cup knockout matches, the most without a win at this stage in the tournament's history.

Manu Kony's 22nd-minute strike is the first in the match between Paraguay and France. Only the 2022 group stage match between France and Tunisia (min. 25) saw a more late first shot at the World Cup since Opta began analyzing this data (1966).

Mbappe: France is good at "playing dirty" when needed

France captain Kylian Mbappe has confirmed his team's readiness to provide everything necessary to continue their World Cup career, after overcoming a "tense" eighth leg of the final by beating Paraguayan with a clean sheet, in Saturday's clash in Philadelphia amid a hot and charged atmosphere.

Speaking to the press after the match, Mbappe said: "We knew what kind of game was ahead of us, and I think we handled it well today." The Real Madrid star added, hinting at the opponent's view of his team: "They thought we would come in uniforms, that we would be content with showing off skills and playing beautifully."

Mbappe continued in a decisive tone: "But we know how to play the dirty game as well. I apologize for the expression, but we have no problem with that. We did that today, we won, and we were even better than them in that aspect," he said, adding: "The way we played today showed that we are not a team that relies solely on attack. If we have to get into physical conflict, we have no problem with that."

The numbers of the match reflected a rough and tight character, as Uzbek referee Elgiz Tantashev only issued three yellow cards, all of which belonged to the French players, in a match that witnessed a clash between the players of the two sides before the penalty kick was executed, in addition to continuous attempts by the Paraguayan players to confuse the shooter.