World Cup - let me make this pellucidly clear

[malaise]

All but one French player was born in France and he was born in England.
Say African when you can’t use black you Paraguayan racist.
Bye bye to your team
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/04/french-football-chief-condemns-chilaverts-remarks-that-les-bleus-are-a-squad-from-africa

The French football federation president, Philippe Diallo, has condemned José Luis Chilavert after the former Paraguay goalkeeper said Les Bleus are “a squad from Africa”.

“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the racist remarks made by José Luis Chilavert against the French national team, which undermine the values of respect, fraternity, and diversity in our football,” Diallo wrote in a social media post on Saturday. “If he was once a great goalkeeper, this man has now fallen into disgrace.”

[Ponietz]

1. Paraguay are a bunch of shithouse rats

always were.

[regnaD kciN]

2. The Paraguayan team was disgraceful...

Constant cheap shots, diving, gamesmanship, and non-stop whining to the refs. Not to mention starting fights when they lose (which appears to be a tradition for them). The tournament is greatly improved by their absence.

[malaise]

4. Nailed it

They have a history

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Wow. Didn't know this about Paraguay.

[mcar]

5. What a racist buffoon!

The Paraguayan team is a bunch of whiny bullies. FIFA should look into yesterday's ref too - his officiating was nonsensical.

[malaise]

8. +1,000

Horrible officiating

[sarisataka]

6. That game was brutal

And one of the most poorly officiated games i've seen in the tournament. Paraguay was committing blatant off the ball fouls right in the referee's field of vision that went completely ignored but he still dropped three yellow cards on France

[malaise]

7. Agree

It was really bad

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. I heard that about 100 players in the World Cup (out of about 1250) qualified for France

and so the reality is closer to "some African squads are significantly from France". And that's fine.

Not that that stops me wishing Olise had chosen to play for England.

[malaise]

10. Interesting observation

Rec

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Here we go:

Of the 1,248 selected for the 2026 World Cup, nearly 8%, or 99 footballers, were born in France, according to analysis from Opta, verified by Le Monde. Among them, only 23 wear the French team's jersey. The others are mainly spread across African national teams: 13 for Algeria, 11 for the Democratic Republic of Congo, 10 for Senegal, eight for Côte d'Ivoire, seven for Tunisia and six for Morocco. Haiti's team includes 12, while Qatar and Spain each have just one.

France stands well ahead of the Netherlands in the rankings of World Cup "suppliers." The Netherlands counts 67 players born on its territory, with 25 playing for Curaçao, an autonomous country within the kingdom. Behind them, Germany and England each reach about half the number of French-born players.

Another noteworthy point is that all 99 footballers born in France were also trained in the country. "This is a clear indicator of the strength of our training system. While it's designed to benefit our national team, we can see it has an impact far beyond that," said Hubert Fournier, Technical Director (DTN) at the French Football Federation (FFF), in an interview with Le Monde.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/sports/article/2026/06/30/nearly-100-players-born-in-france-were-selected-for-the-2026-world-cup-but-only-23-play-for-france_6755019_9.html

[malaise]

12. LOL

Well why not - the English cricket team has two Bajans (Barbadians)😀

[PJMcK]

13. Three thoughts

First, the behavior of the Paraguayan squad looked planned and coordinated. Do they practice the whining and acting? They behaved like a bad suburban kids’ league coached by someone who was still reliving their middle school triumphs. Truly pathetic and unsportsmanlike.

Second, the referee was either half blind, bribed or mentally absent.

Third, the blatant racism should be disqualifying and sanctionable! This is a worldwide competition highlighting the great diversity of the world while celebrating our commonality through sport. Chilavert is an ignorant asshole who should be ostracized from the sport.

The rest of the tournament will benefit from Paraguay’s loss and departure.

[malaise]

14. Fully agree

Go Mexico😀
It’s been 13 years since they lost at the Azteca
2 losses in 89 games - that is some fortress.