Soccer-France's fluent attack can profit against defensive Paraguay says Barcola


Soccer Football - FIFA World Cup 2026 - Round of 32 - France v Sweden - New York New Jersey Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S. - June 30, 2026 France's Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring their third goal with Bradley Barcola and Michael Olise IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Vincent Carchietta

BOSTON, Massachusetts, ⁠July 2 (Reuters) - France are aware they will need ⁠to break through a compact defence when they ‌meet Paraguay in their World Cup last-16 match on Saturday, but they can do it with their attacking trio enjoying their football at ​the tournament, France forwardBradley Barcola said ⁠on Thursday.

• Les Bleus ⁠have been impressive so far, winning all four matches, scoring ⁠13 ‌goals and conceding two.

• Captain Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Barcola have netted 12 of them.

• "I ⁠enjoy immensely playing like that," Barcola told ​a press conference. "We ‌pass, attack and defend together. These are great ⁠players and that ​is why it works so well. It is a joy to play together."

• They eased into the last 16 ⁠with a confidence-boosting 3-0 victory over Sweden ​on Tuesday, while the South Americans stunned four-times champions Germany 4-3 on penalties.

• "We know it will be complicated," Barcola said ⁠of Paraguay's deep defending. "We have to find alternatives and we will do that. I hope it keeps working well for us until the end."

• Temperatures on Saturday in ​Philadelphia are expected to top 36 ⁠degrees Celsius but Barcola said that while it would ​drain them a bit more, the ‌team had got used to the ​warm weather during the weeks-long tournament in North America.

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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