Paraguay v France LIVE: Latest team news and updates from World Cup last-16 clash

France have lit up this World Cup with their play and Chief Football Writer Miguel Delaney has broken down how they’ve become the great entertainers

In the same way that Michael Olise suddenly plays a pass that no one else had even imagined, he has quickly gone from an exciting talent to one of the best in the world — genuine top five — and especially from the relatively late age of 23 on.

One question being asked in coaching circles is whether there has ever been a player who has made that leap so fast?

Maybe Mohamed Salah, but this still feels so much more extreme.

Some in the game would of course immediately point to what Olise himself said in an Instagram message as a young Reading player, about how he wouldn’t be at the club “for long,” and argue that he – and many football insiders – knew he was always destined for the top.

Miguel Delaney dives into Michael Olise’s astounding rise:

It is not cold in Philadelphia today… How much of a factor will the conditions play?

Here’s what our Senior Football Correspondent, Richard Jolly, out in the US has to say ahead of this evening’s clash.

“America celebrates its 250th birthday in the city of the Declaration of Independence. It means there is plenty going on in Philadelphia today, but an essential problem for everyone here: 100-degree heat.

“It remains to be seen who copes best with it. This had shaped up as France v Germany on July 4 until Paraguay intervened. They will be looking for a second major scalp, France, to book a quarter-final with Morocco in Boston.”

What have you made of all the teams in the last 16 of this World Cup?

We’ve ranked every one of them and, unsurprisingly, France are top of the pile. But how does everyone stack up behind Les Bleus?

And here’s how Paraguay will line up this evening – Diego Gomez is back from suspension and Omar Alderete has recovered from his knee injury to feature as well.

Having the Sunderland man in defence is a huge boost.

It will likely be a 5-4-1 for Paraguay as they try to stop the French onslaught

Paraguay XI v France: Gill; Caceres, Velazquez, G Gomez, Alderete; Alonso, Cubas, D Gomez, Galarza, Almiron; Enciso

Here’s the French team for this evening. No real surprises in there – Mbappe, Olise, Barcola and Dembele all start in that ferocious forward line.

However, Aurelien Tchouameni is ruled out with a thigh injury, so Manu Kone comes into the midfield

France XI v Paraguay: Maignan; Kounde, Upamecano, Saliba, Digne; Kone, Rabiot; Olise, Dembele, Barcola, Mbappe

Right, we’re only a couple of minutes away from finding out the team news for this one.

Will either side have any surprises in store?

On the Boston training ground that has formed the studio for France’s “art”, to quote one insider, Kylian Mbappe and his orchestra have only really had one instruction. That is to “express themselves”, to do what “comes with instinct”.

If this sounds unusually romantic for a coach as pragmatic as Didier Deschamps, he offered up even more evocative words for the media, in speaking about that illustrious trio of Mbappe, Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembele.

“They speak the same football.”

Typically with Deschamps, there is more edge to that than just nice phrasing.

And it’s partly why France have already had more to them than almost any other team at this World Cup, as well as most in modern history.

Read Miguel Delaney’s full analysis of France’s brilliance so far:

There was even more reason for Paraguay fans to celebrate the victory over Germany earlier this week after the country’s president Santiago Pena declared a national holiday following the triumph.

The South Americans confined the Germans to their first-ever defeat in a World Cup penalty shootout and Pena seized the moment.

The president also declared a public holiday last September after Paraguay returned to the World Cup for the first time since 2010 and he announced another one, for Tuesday, 30 June, after his country’s historic moment.

Posting on X, Pena said: “Paraguay never gives up! Public holiday, damn it!”

According to Paraguayan law, the executive branch can declare up to three additional public holidays per year.