During France’s Round of 16 World Cup matchup against Paraguay, on July 4, in Philadelphia—250 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed some 3 miles from Philadelphia Stadium—David Thompson was decked out in American red, white, and blue in the stands. But he was also sporting face paint across both cheeks: a rendering of the national flag of France.
“I knew it was going to be our 250th birthday, and everybody knows the story of the French helping the U.S. fight the Brits, and so it made sense for me to come here to support the French team,” says Thompson, 42, an education policy consultant who lives in Austin, Texas. “There's a lot of Americans with American jerseys in this stadium today, and I think we're all really excited to see France, and then go see some amazing fireworks in Philly. We don't think about the history enough: who our friends are, and who we should be supporting in sports.”
A strong Paraguay fan group showed up, but the France supporters like Thompson—whether they were wearing Les Bleus kits, or the Stars and Stripes—walked away from the Fourth of July football festival satisfait. France survived Paraguay's physical gameplan to beat La Albirroja, the red and white, 1-0 to advance to play Morocco, which shut out Canada on Saturday 3-0, in a quarterfinal on July 9 in Foxboro, Mass. France superstar Kylian Mbappé converted a penalty in the 70th minute to make the difference. Mbappé is now tied with Lionel Messi for the World Cup lead in goals scored, with 7. Messi plays in the Round of 16 on July 7, against Egypt, in Atlanta.
Fans expecting brilliant French offense in the Philadelphia Stadium sweatbox had reason to be disappointed. Les Bleus put at least three goals on the board in each of their four World Cup games coming into the Paraguay clash, while outscoring their opponents (Senegal, Iraq, Norway, and Sweden) 13-2. Paraguay, however, came in looking to limit France’s chances, by any mea
