A place in the quarter-finals is at stake as Paraguay, who stunned Germany earlier in the tournament, prepare to face World Cup favourites France.

France have been in exceptional form throughout this World Cup, but they now meet a Paraguay side that has already proven its ability to upset major teams.

Paraguay knocked out Germany on penalties in the round of 32, setting up this encounter at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Saturday, July 4 – a venue that holds symbolic significance as the city marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the US Declaration of Independence.

France, on the other hand, have looked inspired in this competition, delivering their most dominant performance yet when they comfortably defeated Sweden in the previous round.

Kylian Mbappe has been in electric form at this World Cup, driving France’s attack with pace and precision.

The winner of this fixture will advance to the quarter-finals to take on either Canada or Morocco, whose match will have concluded before this one begins.

The victor of that tie will then move on to face one of Portugal, Spain, the United States, or Belgium.

The referee appointed for the Paraguay vs France clash is Uzbekistan’s Ilgiz Tantashev.

The 42-year-old official is making his debut at a World Cup, having previously taken charge of matches at the Asian Cup and the 2024 Summer Olympics. He was initially selected to officiate one of the Olympic semi-finals but was replaced after an unfortunate collision with Spain’s Marc Pubill.

This will be Tantashev’s third fixture of the tournament, following his officiating of Scotland’s 1-0 loss to Morocco and Algeria’s thrilling 3-3 draw with Austria.

Scotland were unhappy about not being awarded a penalty against Morocco in the group stage, with ITV’s referee analyst Christina Unkel remarking that Tantashev “is known for requiring a higher level of physical contact before awarding a foul.”

Supporting Tantashev on the lines will be his compatriots Andrey Tsapenko and Timur Gaynullin as assistant referees.

The fourth official for the match will be Qatar’s Abdulrahman Al-Jassim, with fellow Qatari Taleb Al-Marri serving as the reserve official.

Chilean Juan Lara will oversee the VAR operations, assisted by Italian Marco Di Bello and American Joe Dickerson.