Paraguay – France

The favorite will confidently defeat the audacious upstart.

One of the most surprising participants in the World Cup Round of 16 will take the field at a stadium in Philadelphia against the tournament's most anticipated winner. Paraguay advanced from a group in which the United States and Turkey were the favorites. Before the tournament, experts predicted the South Americans would contend with Australia for third place, with unclear prospects of reaching the knockout stage. After losing their opening World Cup match to the United States 1-4, the Paraguayans moved to outsider status. However, the second round proved crucial for this team. Because of some inexplicable profligacy by their Turkish opponents, Paraguay, even with ten men, held on to win by the narrow margin of 1-0. In the final round they did everything necessary to reach the knockout stage together with Australia — 0-0. The first knockout round delivered the tournament's first serious upset. Luck was again on Paraguay's side in the match against Germany, which finally exposed Germany's own fragility and allowed Paraguayans to endure to a penalty shootout. France, before the Round of 16 match, looks like a team from another planet compared with the upcoming opponent. It can be safely said that in the eight halves played by the current North American vice-champions, they conceded only the very first. Then the French took a while to settle into the match with the sturdy Senegalese team, but they pushed their opponents in the second half. Overall, none of France's victories left any doubt about their dominance in the tournament. In each of the four matches they scored three or more goals, and the trio of Mbappe, Dembele and Olise demonstrated simply cosmic football. After beating Sweden 3-0 in the Round of 16, bookmakers recognized France as the dominant favorite of the World Cup. Even though 16 glorious teams remain in the competition, France's victory in North America can be taken with relatively low odds of 2.90. Undoubtedly, Didier Deschamps's team will not allow Germany's side to suffer humiliation, and the Paraguayans' incredible luck will turn against them under pressure from opponents of the highest class.