A heated exchange occurred between players from France and Paraguay following France's 1-0 victory in a World Cup match Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field. The incident escalated when Orlando Gill, a Paraguayan player, threw a soccer ball at French star Kylian Mbappé after Mbappé did not reciprocate a handshake gesture.
After the final whistle, Gill approached Mbappé to offer congratulations, but the game's only goal scorer did not extend his hand. This perceived snub prompted Gill to throw the ball at Mbappé's back, which then led to a scrum as other French players intervened.
Mbappé appeared unfazed by the incident, and the confrontation quickly dissipated, allowing the French team to celebrate their advancement to the quarterfinals. Gill later stated that he was simply trying to congratulate the opposing team, acknowledging that the situation became heated.
"This is soccer, and I gave him my hand to congratulate him, but he ignored me," Gill said. "Obviously, I entered a heated moment, but that’s all I did. After that I calmed down. Just wanted to congratulate them. The truth is they’ve had an excellent campaign as they’re candidates to be world champions."
Mbappé, who scored his seventh goal of the tournament in the match, did not speak to reporters. However, in comments to a World Cup broadcast partner, he addressed the team's performance and approach.
"If we have to get our hands dirty, we’ll do it," Mbappé said. "They thought we’d just turn up in tuxedos, make a few flashy moves and play a few passes. We know how to play rough football, too. And that’s exactly what we did today — we won. We were even better than them at that."
The match saw several yellow cards issued. Earlier in the game, Mbappé was involved in a play where a Paraguayan defender made an aggressive tackle that drew a reaction from him.
France is scheduled to face Morocco in the quarterfinals on Thursday in Boston.