France-Paraguay – P.C. Carpeggiani: “France's victory is well-deserved”

“First of all, I must say that FRANCE’s victory is well-deserved. Our efforts were not rewarded at all, and at the end of the match we paid dearly for our mistakes, probably because of fatigue. My players fought well, they were brave but unable to resolve the problems in attack which have plagued us since the opening round. Thanks to our defence, we managed to trouble the French team who I thought were more cautious than usual. Our performance today has proved that our second round place was not a miracle, but logical. At the end of the day, we lost by only one goal, during extra time and, furthermore, against the host country.

If FRANCE want to beat ITALY in the quarter final, they’ll have to rediscover their attacking game. But beware, the Italian defence is at least as good as ours.

My contract with the Paraguayan Football Federation ends with the World Cup. For PARAGUAY, the Cup’s over now. I don’t know yet what’s going to happen, but, personally, I need a rest. I think it’s time for a new coach. It’s up to him to make changes and to build a new team.”