Jean-Philippe Mateta scored the only goal as France won 1-0 in their grudge match with Argentina on Friday to reach the Olympic men’s football semi-finals, joining Spain, Morocco, and Egypt in the last four.
Crystal Palace striker Mateta scored just five minutes into the quarter-final showdown in Bordeaux, meeting a Michael Olise corner with a superb near-post header.
That proved enough for the hosts, coached by Thierry Henry, to advance to the last four and stay in contention to win gold in Paris next Friday, August 9.
It was the first meeting of the nations since Argentina players were recorded singing racist chants about their French counterparts as they celebrated winning the Copa America in mid-July.
FIFA announced that it would investigate the chants, which targeted France’s star striker Kylian Mbappe, among others, and included racist and homophobic insults.
The Argentina team were therefore met with a hostile welcome in south-western France, with the Bordeaux crowd loudly jeering their national anthem as the sides also met for the first time since the 2022 World Cup final which the South Americans won on penalties.
Tensions also spilled over at full-time, with rival players and staff clashing on the pitch and confrontations continuing down the tunnel.
Giuliano Simeone and Julian Alvarez missed chances for Javier Mascherano’s Argentina, and the exit of the two-time gold medalists means the winner of men’s Olympic football gold will not come from Latin America for the first time since Cameroon triumphed in Sydney in 2000.
France could have won by a wider margin, but new Bayern Munich signing Olise had a late second goal disallowed on review for a foul in the build-up.
Spain and Morocco March on
They will now be heavy favorites to win a semi-final in Lyon on Monday against Egypt, who beat Paraguay 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Marseille.
Ibrahim Adel was Egypt’s hero, first scoring a late equalizer in normal time and then converting the winning penalty in the shootout, in which Paraguay’s Marcelo Perez was the only player to fail to score.
Earlier, a brilliant brace by Barcelona’s Fermin Lopez helped fire Spain to a 3-0 win over Japan in Lyon.
Lopez, a member of Spain’s triumphant Euro 2024 squad, blasted in the opener with a left-foot strike from range in the 11th minute.
The Barcelona midfielder struck again on 73 minutes with another goal of the highest quality as he controlled a Sergio Gomez corner before volleying in from the edge of the box, this time with his right foot.
Captain Abel Ruiz wrapped up the win late on for Spain, Olympic champions in 1992 and silver medalists three years ago in Tokyo.
Spain go through to an enticing last-four clash in Marseille with Morocco, who outclassed the United States, winning 4-0 at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
Soufiane Rahimi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after he had been fouled in the box just before the half-hour mark.
That was a fifth goal in four games for the tournament’s top scorer, who is one of Morocco’s three overage players.
Morocco doubled their lead on 63 minutes when Abde Ezzalzouli set up his fellow winger and fellow former Barcelona youngster, Ilias Akhomach, to finish at the near post.
Captain Achraf Hakimi, playing on his Paris Saint-Germain home ground, ran through to make it 3-0, and substitute Mehdi Maouhoub added another penalty in stoppage time.
“If we keep playing like this, we will deserve to be in the final,” said Akhomach.
“Other countries might be talked about more than us, but we know what we want. We came here to win.”
With AFP
