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Germany’s conquerors are set to meet the most dominant team of the tournament in the round of 16 stage.

Paraguay will be aiming to pull off another major upset when they take on France in the World Cup round of 16 clash.

The match will take place at Lincoln Ford Field in Philadelphia, with kick-off scheduled for 5pm local time (10pm UK time).

So, what can fans expect from this encounter?

Paraguay endured a difficult start to their campaign, suffering a 4-1 defeat to the United States in their opening group fixture.

However, they rediscovered the resilience that had carried them through qualifying, edging past Turkiye 1-0 despite being reduced to ten men just before half-time. They then played out a goalless draw against Australia — a result both teams knew would likely secure their progression to the next stage.

Paraguay then produced one of the tournament’s first major shocks, holding Germany to a 1-1 draw before prevailing in a dramatic penalty shootout.

Overall, Paraguay have shown that on their day they can be extremely difficult to beat and are more than capable of springing a surprise. After all, they had already defeated Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil during the qualification rounds.

The challenge now, however, is that France have been simply exceptional throughout this World Cup.

Didier Deschamps’ squad were among the pre-tournament favourites, and they have lived up to that billing, arguably outperforming every other side so far.

Les Bleus have scored at least three goals in each of their four matches, with their attacking trio of Ousmane Dembele, Kylian Mbappe, and Michael Olise proving almost impossible to contain.

Given their current form, it is hard to envision anything other than another convincing victory for the French team.

It would take une catastrophe for France not to advance to the quarter-finals from here.

Score prediction: France 3-0 Paraguay