France advanced to play Morocco on Thursday in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
With an extreme heat warning in effect throughout Saturday's match as temperatures hovered around 38 degrees, Mbappe finally broke through against a physical, defensive-minded Paraguay side when he converted a penalty kick in the 70th minute.
That was enough for Les Bleus, whose red, white and blue-clad fans looked plenty patriotic on July Fourth in Philadelphia, where the United States was founded exactly 250 years earlier.
Mbappe was awarded the penalty when Diego Gomez was called for tripping after a video review. Then he stutter-stepped on his way to his 19th goal in 19 World Cup appearances, one behind career record holder Lionel Messi. Mbappé and Argentina ace Messi each have seven goals in this tournament to top the Golden Boot race.
Mbappé won that award four years ago in Qatar, but Messi and Argentina beat France in the final.
Mbappé is now the only player to score at least three goals in the knockout stage of three World Cups. On Saturday, he endured against perhaps the most physical opponent he's faced in this tournament
"I've said from the first day that he had the spirit. He gave all the athletic efforts," France coach Didier Deschamps said. "He's a great top-notch player on the pitch. But when he speaks, he speaks for the entire group."
Tempers flared in the first half when Andrés Cubas took down Mbappé and the teams briefly pushed and shoved each other. Matías Galarza also threw his right elbow into Mbappé and sent him crashing to the grass.
After Mbappé ignored Orlando Gill's attempt at a post-game handshake, the goalkeeper threw a ball at the France star's back.
"We knew what kind of match it was going to be. We can also get our hands dirty, we know how to do it," said Mbappé,who frequently trash-talked the Paraguayans in Spanish.
"We know how to play ugly football. Guess they were thinking we were going to show up in tuxedos, but we were ready.
" Even at that kind of game, we were better than them. That's their style of football. There's no right or wrong way to play the game. They tried to beat us that way, but we won."
Mbappé botched a breakaway attempt in the second half, and Manu Koné had his top-corner shot knocked away by Gill after he was wiped out in the netting by Ousmane Dembélé only moments earlier.
Gill also stopped two strong attempts by Mbappé in second-half stoppage time.
Paraguay had advanced by beating Germany in a penalty shootout on Monday, the biggest upset of this World Cup. But after a gritty effort by La Albirroja, it's France that's moving on.
After defeating Croatia for the 2018 title, France lost to Argentina on penalty kicks in the 2022 final. Les Bleus are 5-0 in this year's tournament, outscoring opponents 14-2.
"As I said to the players, we've had easy games so far, so it is good to have a tough one," Deschamps said.
