Day 24 of the FIFA World Cup 2026 saw France overcome Paraguay’s rough-housing while co-hosts Canada fell to a heavy defeat at the hands of Morocco.
Here is our in-depth recap of all the action from Saturday, including what you might have missed overnight.
World Cup Day 24 recap:
France narrowly beat Paraguay
Paraguay pulled out every dirty trick in the book to dull France’s ultra sharp attack, and it almost worked but they ultimately fell to a narrow defeat in Philadelphia.
Fresh off their shock penalty shootout victory over Germany in the previous round, La Albirroja seemingly tried to take this round of 16 clash to spot kicks again by any means possible.
Gustavo Alfaro’s side made life extremely difficult for Les Bleus, who were also struggling in the sweltering afternoon heat. They played their role of pantomime villain to a tee in the opening half, cynically fouling, grabbing, dragging and even lightly slapping the opposition to drive them to frustration.
It was largely amusing, and effective too as the game was scoreless at the half. The referee’s decision to let Paraguay away with their antics, though, meant that the contest became more and more gritty, scrappy and physical as it went on. The South Americans were not particularly violent in the first half, but their challenges increased in intensity after the interval, especially as the game got away from them.
Andres Cubas somehow escaped punishment for a terrible foul on Adrien Rabiot, while Matias Galarza also got away with lashing out at Jules Kounde and there wasn’t even a free-kick awarded (although on replay it wasn’t particularly forceful). It brought France down to their level; Kylian Mbappe laughed off their shenanigans for the most part, but the Real Madrid striker sparked a melee when he made a beeline for one of the Paraguayans, knocking him over when the second hydration break commences.
Paraguay’s strategy came back to bite them, though, when Diego Gomez brought Desire Doue down in the box and Mbappe duly converted the subsequent penalty. You live by the sword, you die by the sword.
Incredibly, only three players received a booking during the game and they were all French. But they had the last laugh, lustily celebrating their victory at the final whistle. When goalkeeper Orlando Gill went to shake Mbappe’s hand at the end, the forward simply ignored the gesture to celebrate in front of the fans. Who could blame him, honestly.
Read – World Cup Power Rankings: France unstoppable, England unconvincing
Canada succumb to Morocco
Jesse Marsch’s troops were the better side in the opening half, hemming the Moroccans in with their press and controlling possession. Bonou was forced into an early save when some lovely footwork from Tani Oluwaseyi saw him in on goal.
Morocco were dealt a major setback just 20 minutes in when Ismael Saibari went down injured. The attacker, who has scored three goals in this tournament, was inconsolable before being replaced by Soufiane Rahimi.
The two teams got into a schmozzle after Achraf Hakimi shoved Richie Laryea to the ground. Laryea confronted the PSG full-back, leading to players from both sides getting involved. When it finally broke up, referee Michael Oliver took the most frustrating of actions by booking both players, even though Hakimi was very much the one at fault.
For all their good play in the opening half, Canada had nothing to show for it and soon found themselves behind. In a move straight from the training ground, Hakimi slid the ball to Azzedine Ounahi on the edge of the box from a free-kick out wide. Ounahi coolly slotted the ball between the legs of teammate Rahimi and past the unsighted goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau into the corner of the net.
Canada, now chasing the game, found it difficult to string passes together and struggled to get any attacks going. Any hopes they had of getting back into the game were effectively killed when Ounahi finished off a counter-attack for his second of the day. The game was firmly put to bed when Rahimi rolled the ball into the net in the final minute of stoppage time.
A disappointing end to the World Cup for Canada, but they can take heart from their run to the round of 16. Their three most important players – Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David and Ismael Kone – were injured to varying degrees, yet they still made life difficult for a superior side like Morocco.
It was only nine years ago that Canada were 120th in the FIFA rankings. Today they are 30th and may yet rise further.
Read – The players to score and be red carded in a World Cup knockout match
See Also – It took Cristiano Ronaldo 20 years to score this World Cup goal
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