Australia's World Cup Exit: Popovic's Gamble and France's Triumph

In the end, they said it would be fine either way.

“Either way you win.”

“Whatever happens there will be consolation.”

Tell that to the Australians who watched Hossam Abdelmaguid stride up and bury Egypt’s fourth penalty in Dallas, the kick that sent the Socceroos out of the World Cup and left a nation staring at another missed chance in the knockout rounds. There was no consolation in that moment. Only the hollow, nauseous feeling that follows when a campaign built on hope collapses in a few brutal seconds.

Popovic under fire as gamble backfires

Australia’s run ended with a 4-2 defeat on penalties after a 1-1 draw through extra time at Dallas Stadium, and with it the wait continues: still no victory in a World Cup knockout match.

The shootout framed everything. It framed Tony Popovic’s decisions, the ones that now sit under a harsh spotlight.

The Socceroos coach made two huge calls before the spot-kicks. He pulled starting goalkeeper Patrick Beach, who had carried the gloves all night, and threw on veteran Mat Ryan for the shootout. He also handed a penalty to 18-year-old Lucas Herrington, asking a teenager to shoulder a moment that defines careers.

Herrington missed. Abdelmaguid did not. And the debate ignited.

Former Australia goalkeeper Mark Bosnich said he was “astounded” by the choice to replace Beach with Ryan. Robbie Slater, another former Socceroo, questioned the wisdom of exposing such a young player to that level of pressure with so much at stake. Those criticisms haven’t come from the fringes; they’ve come from the core of Australia’s football history.

Inside Football Australia, though, the message is very different. The governing body has moved quickly to defend Popovic, insisting he remains “absolutely” the right man to lead the national side despite the noise swirling around him. In their view, this exit is a brutal chapter, not the end of the story.

But for the players, and for the fans, that’s not how it felt when Egypt’s final penalty hit the net. It felt like another opportunity slipping away in the cruellest manner.

Mbappé powers France through the furnace

While Australia’s World Cup ended in a shootout, France simply refused to let their tie drift towards the same fate. In the suffocating heat of Philadelphia, with an extreme heat warning in place and the mercury hitting 37 degrees in the first half, they found a way through Paraguay and into yet another quarter-final.

This was a match played at walking pace at times, the tempo strangled by the conditions. France still controlled it. They probed, they waited, they squeezed Paraguay deeper and deeper. The South Americans scrapped, fouled, delayed, and argued. They turned it into a contest of will as much as skill.

The pressure finally told.

On 70 minutes, Warren Zaïre-Emery’s replacement, Doue, drove into the box. He went down under contact from Gomez. France erupted in protest, the referee initially waving play on as Paraguay tried to reset. VAR stepped in. Replays showed clear contact, Gomez clipping and tripping his man.

The referee went to the monitor. One look was enough. He turned back, jogged onto the pitch, and pointed straight to the spot.

Ousmane Dembele held the ball first, but there was never any doubt who would take it. Kylian Mbappé placed it on the spot, stuttered in his run-up, then slid the ball into the bottom-right corner. Ice-cold. Clinical. His first penalty of the tournament, his seventh goal of it.

That strike didn’t just win the tie. It dragged Mbappé level with Lionel Messi in the golden boot race, both men now locked on seven goals for this World Cup. It also pushed the French forward to 19 goals in 19 World Cup matches, just one shy of Messi’s all-time World Cup tally of 20. The chase at the top of the game’s greatest stage has rarely felt this direct.

Paraguay tried to respond. They threw on Mauricio and Avalos, searching for pace, for a spark, for anything. They found almost nothing. France stayed in control, even as the clock ticked deep into stoppage time.

Mbappé nearly doubled the lead in added time, latching onto a neat pass from Doue and hammering a shot at Gill. The goalkeeper parried, only for the ball to rebound straight back to the France forward. The second effort seemed destined for the gap by Gill’s right post until the keeper twisted, changed direction mid-dive, and somehow clawed it away again.

It didn’t matter. France didn’t need a second. They needed a result, and they had it: a 1-0 win, a fourth consecutive World Cup quarter-final, and a superstar still burning through records in the heat.

The final whistle brought a flare of tempers. Players from both sides exchanged words, the niggle and frustration of a gruelling night boiling over. While France eventually peeled away to celebrate, Paraguay players headed for the referee, still protesting, still chasing decisions that would never change.

Mbappé, though, looked content. How could he not? He has his quarter-final, a looming clash with Morocco, and a personal duel with Messi that now stretches across continents and eras.

Australia go home wondering what might have been. France march on, carried by a forward who seems determined to rewrite the World Cup record books in real time.