Paraguay Face France After Historic Germany Elimination
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- Paraguay face France in Philadelphia on Saturday, 28 years after Laurent Blanc's golden goal ended their 1998 World Cup dream six minutes from a penalty shootout that goalkeeper José Luis Chilavert might well have won them.
- Gustavo Alfaro led Paraguay to eliminate Germany on Monday, a historic result that followed their opening 4-1 loss to the United States, where defenders Omar Alderete, Juan Cáceres, captain Gustavo Gómez, and Júnior Alonso were all outplayed.
- Alfaro, an Argentine who took charge two years ago after a disastrous World Cup qualifying start and poor Copa América, guided Paraguay to their first World Cup since 2010 by reminding players to 'take that inner child onto the field' with them.
- Paraguay's tournament turnaround featured a first-minute win over Türkiye despite Miguel Almirón's first-half red card, followed by a goalless draw against Australia that set up the Germany upset.
- Julio Enciso scored against Germany but limped off in the second half with a recurring muscular problem, while Diego Gómez returns from suspension to bolster a midfield already anchored by Andrés Cubas and Matías Galarza (who scored vs. Türkiye and assisted vs. Germany).
- France, described as 'perhaps the world's foremost producer of talent,' present a far sterner test with Kylian Mbappé leading an attack that dwarfs Alfaro's unsettled forward rotation of four different center forwards.
Why it matters: Paraguay's defensive identity - forged through the humiliation of the US loss and tightened against Türkiye, Australia, and Germany - meets the deepest attacking talent pool in international football, and Alfaro's two-year rebuild from a broken qualifying campaign to the knockout rounds hinges on whether that collective grit can hold off Mbappé and company for 90 minutes.
