PHILADELPHIA — After France survived a contentious round of 16 clash with a 1-0 victory over Paraguay, French manager Didier Deschamps tried to take the high road.
France somehow ended the match with all three bookings from Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev despite Paraguay being the team who sat deep and defended.
But that state of affairs was mostly understood and expected from Deschamps and his French charges on a sweltering afternoon that was the hottest match of this World Cup.
“I’ve seen a lot of things,” Deschamps said through an interpreter. “I have prepared the players. The players were expecting this game.
“I do not want to criticize Paraguay. Each team plays the way they want. But there were some insults from the other bench which I could have done without.”
Deschamps counted his charges lucky to escape the match without a red.
“The most important is by the end of the game that there were no disagreements and that we (did not) get another card. We got three yellow cards with a lot of fouls.
“I’m not saying that we did not make any fouls, but there were a lot from both teams.”
Manu Kone, Bradley Barcola and Michael Olise were the booked players. Admirably, France goal-scorer Kylian Mbappe avoided joining them despite persistent Paraguayan provocation.
Asked whether it showed growth for France’s 27-year-old captain, Deschamps replied that Mbappe has always behaved maturely with his national team.
“There was a lot of media saying that he has evolved,” Deschamps said. “I don’t want to contradict myself, but Kylian has an image for you that is far from reality.
“I don’t want to lie. I’ve said from the first day that he had this spirit. He gave all the athletic efforts. He’s a great top-notch player on the pitch. But when he speaks, he speaks for the entire group.”
Until Mbappe’s 70th-minute penalty, earned by the excellent dribbling of substitute Desire Doue to incite Diego Gomez’s clumsy challenge, there remained a chance France would follow Germany out of the tournament at the hands of Paraguay, in the process ending Deschamps’ 14-year managerial tenure.
Deschamps, once again, insisted he never dwelled on it.
“I’m going to be clear. I will never think of that,” he said. “The only feeling that I have is to do everything for (the team) to work in the best way. The last game could have been four years ago or eight years ago. They could have told me, ‘You’ll go home.’ It’s like that.
“I have a positive philosophy. With my staff, we’re going to do everything to win. But we know this is football. Sometimes you lose. But you give it your all, then your head will be all right.”
–Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media
