Kylian Mbappe's second-half penalty earned France a 1-0 victory over Paraguay on Saturday, securing a place in the World Cup quarter-finals against Morocco after a hard-fought contest played in extreme heat.
The France captain converted from the spot in the 70th minute at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia after a VAR review overturned the referee's initial decision not to award a penalty.
The goal, scored in temperatures of around 38C (100F), was Mbappe's seventh of the tournament, drawing him level with Argentina captain Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot.
Paraguay, who stunned four-time champions Germany on penalties in the previous round, frustrated France for much of the match with a disciplined defensive display.
The breakthrough came shortly after Didier Deschamps introduced Desire Doue in place of Bradley Barcola. The Paris Saint-Germain winger drove into the penalty area, beat several defenders and was brought down by Diego Gomez. Although referee Ilgiz Tantashev initially waved play on, a VAR review prompted him to award the penalty.
Mbappe calmly converted to settle an increasingly physical contest in which three France players received yellow cards.
"We knew what sort of match we were in for, but I think today went really well," Mbappe said after the match.
"They thought we'd turn up in tuxedos, that we'd just come to pull off some spectacular moves.
"But we know how to play the dirty game too. And we did that today; we won, and even in that respect we were better than them."
France will now meet Morocco in the quarter-finals in Foxborough, near Boston, on Thursday in a repeat of the 2022 World Cup semi-final, which France won.
Earlier on Saturday, Morocco secured their place in the last eight with a convincing 3-0 victory over co-hosts Canada at NRG Stadium in Houston.
Azzedine Ounahi scored twice after the break before Soufiane Rahimi added a third in stoppage time to complete the win.
Canada started brightly and controlled much of the early play, but Morocco took the lead shortly after half-time when Ounahi struck a powerful low shot from the edge of the penalty area. He added his second eight minutes from time before Rahimi sealed the result on the counter-attack.
"We are very happy," Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said. "It's a World Cup match and these are difficult games with teams playing for their lives. Canada were impressive – they played a top match. It was no surprise for us but in the second half we were able to profit from the space they left us."
The victory made Morocco the first African nation to reach the World Cup quarter-finals in consecutive tournaments.
"We're no longer a surprise today and that's a great source of pride," Ouahbi said. "I think this is only the beginning and I hope we'll keep producing this kind of run for many years."
Canada coach Jesse Marsch believed his side had deserved more from the match.
"We were the better team," he said. "It's just they had a bit of quality in the final third and we lacked the ability to make a play when we needed to."
The round of 16 continues on Sunday with England facing Mexico at the Estadio Azteca, while Brazil take on Norway in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
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