PHILADELPHIA — After France survived a contentious round of 16 clash with a 1-0 victory over Paraguay, French manager Didier Deschamps tried to take the high road.

France somehow ended the match with all three bookings from Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev despite Paraguay being the team who sat deep and defended.

But that state of affairs was mostly understood and expected from Deschamps and his French charges on a sweltering afternoon that was the hottest match of this World Cup.

“I’ve seen a lot of things,” Deschamps said through an interpreter. “I have prepared the players. The players were expecting this game.

“I do not want to criticize Paraguay. Each team plays the way they want. But there were some insults from the other bench which I could have done without.”

Deschamps counted his charges lucky to escape the match without a red.

“The most important is by the end of the game that there were no disagreements and that we (did not) get another card. We got three yellow cards with a lot of fouls.

“I’m not saying that we did not make any fouls, but there were a lot from both teams.”

Manu Kone, Bradley Barcola and Michael Olise were the booked players. Admirably, France goal-scorer Kylian Mbappe avoided joining them despite persistent Paraguayan provocation.

Asked whether it showed growth for France’s 27-year-old captain, Deschamps replied that Mbappe has always behaved maturely with his national team.

“There was a lot of media saying that he has evolved,” Deschamps said. “I don’t want to contradict myself, but Kylian has an image for you that is far from reality.

“I don’t want to lie. I’ve said from the first day that he had this spirit. He gave all the athletic efforts. He’s a great top-notch player on the pitch. But when he speaks, he speaks for the entire group.”

Until Mbappe’s 70th-minute penalty, earned by the excellent dribbling of substitute Desire Doue to incite Diego Gomez’s clumsy challenge, there remained a chance France would follow Germany out of the tournament at the hands of Paraguay, in the process ending Deschamps’ 14-year managerial tenure.

Deschamps, once again, insisted he never dwelled on it.

“I’m going to be clear. I will never think of that,” he said. “The only feeling that I have is to do everything for (the team) to work in the best way. The last game could have been four years ago or eight years ago. They could have told me, ‘You’ll go home.’ It’s like that.

“I have a positive philosophy. With my staff, we’re going to do everything to win. But we know this is football. Sometimes you lose. But you give it your all, then your head will be all right.”

–Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media

The Colorado Rockies placed right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano on the 15-day injured list on Saturday due to back spasms.

He was scheduled to start Saturday’s game against the visiting San Francisco Giants. The move was retroactive to Wednesday.

Rookie left-hander Sean Sullivan was recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque and started Saturday’s game in Denver in place of Sugano.

In other moves, Colorado placed right-hander Seth Halvorsen (right shoulder inflammation) on the 15-day IL, retroactive to Wednesday, and selected the contract of right-handed reliever and two-time All-Star Jordan Romano from Albuquerque.

Sugano, 36, went unbeaten in five June starts, going 4-0 with a 6.58 ERA. His team gave him a combined 40 runs of support in those four wins.

He is 8-4 with a 4.80 ERA, 23 walks and 48 strikeouts in 84 1/3 innings over 16 starts in his first season with the Rockies. He made his major league debut in 2025 with the Baltimore Orioles and went 10-10 with a 4.64 ERA in 157 innings over 30 starts.

Sullivan, 23, walked away with a no-decision on Monday after allowing five runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings against the Miami Marlins. He entered Saturday 0-2 with an 8.64 ERA, nine walks and 12 strikeouts over 16 2/3 innings in four starts for Colorado this season.

He was 5-3 with a 5.60 ERA, 19 walks and 50 strikeouts in 54 2/3 innings over 11 starts at Albuquerque. The Rockies selected Sullivan in the second round of the 2023 draft out of Wake Forest.

Halvorsen, 26, is 0-1 with a 4.74 ERA, 15 walks and 17 strikeouts in 19 innings over 21 relief appearances this season. Colorado selected Halvorsen in the seventh round of the 2023 MLB Draft out of the University of Tennessee.

Romano, 33, made 11 relief appearances earlier this season for the Los Angeles Angels and went 0-2 with four saves, a 10.13 ERA, six walks and 12 strikeouts in eight innings.

The Angels released him on April 27 and he signed with Colorado on May 6.

Romano has a career 22-23 record with 117 saves and a 3.92 ERA in 291 games, all in relief, with the Toronto Blue Jays (2019-24), Philadelphia Phillies (2025) and Angels (2026). He was an All-Star with the Blue Jays in 2022 and 2023.

He was 1-1 with one save and a 3.72 ERA in 10 relief appearances with the Rockies’ Rookie (one game) and Triple-A (nine) affiliates this year.

–Field Level Media

The Nashville Predators on Saturday announced a reworked contract for newly acquired forward Mavrik Bourque, who signed a six-year, $33 million deal.

The Predators traded for Bourque on July 1, also acquiring defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin from the Dallas Stars in exchanged for a pair of draft picks: a second-rounder in 2027 and a third-rounder in 2028.

Bourque, 24, was a first-round selection (No. 30 overall) of the Stars in 2020. His playing time has steadily increased since. After appearing in one game as a rookie in the 2023-24 campaign, he recorded 73 appearances in Year 2 and 82 games last season, when he recorded career highs of 41 points, 20 goals and 21 assists.

He notched one goal for Dallas in last season’s playoffs and is a former MVP in the AHL, leading that league in points (77) in 2023-24.

–Field Level Media