Michael Olise’s corner + Jean-Philippe Mateta’s header = the Olympics semi-final! The French killed two birds with one stone! First, they entered the medal contest and got their vengeance on the Argentinians for the racist chants scandal, which shocked everyone. Crystal Palace forward broke the deadlock five minutes after Olise’s corner, which eventually turned out to be the game’s decisive moment. Les Blues deservedly go to the semis where Egypt await.GOAL – MATETAFrance 1-0 Argentina pic.twitter.com/McbMCpkKj5— Mechi (@__mechi_) August 2, 2024 The whole football world was talking about the problem between Argentina and France. The Argentinians sang racist chants, several Chelsea teammates despised Enzo Fernandez, and the French waited for the opportunity for their vengeance. And it came sooner than expected – in the Olympics quarter-final, in their country, at their home turf, in front of more than 40.000 people in Bordeaux. Apart from that, this clash saw a duel between the former Barcelona players, now France and Argentina coaches – Thierry Henry and Javier Mascherano.Paris Olympics: Africa rules! Egypt advance to the semis after the penalties thriller!The French “threw the first punch” already after five minutes! Bayern Munich’s newcomer Michael Olise took the corner, and Les Blues vice-captain Jean-Philippe Mateta put a header into the middle of the net – 1-0! The Argentinians were definitely under the impression of the home crowd’s booing and generally hostile atmosphere and had no attempt in the first 20 minutes. As time passed, they started to relax more, which resulted in a chance for the “infamous” Enzo Fernandez, whose effort from outside the box was stopped by Guillaume Restes.Paris Olympics: Can anyone stop Spain in football?! Japan couldn’t, either!In the end, the teams were quite equal during the first 45 minutes, though Les Blues had what was most important – the lead. Instead of opportunities and great moves, what mainly marked the first half was nervousness and tension, resulting in three yellow cards shown – two of which to the French. Although the home team had more reasons for satisfaction, Argentina showed, especially in the last 15 minutes of the first period, that they were ready to fight and that this game was far from over.##NAJAVA_MECA_8251718##Four minutes after the break, Julian Alvarez took a free kick from a dangerous position, only to fire it into the wall. Mascherano, who even got booked because of an outburst, tried refreshing his squad with the subs Julio Cesar Soler and Fiorentina’s Lucas Beltran, who – a bit surprisingly – was left on the bench. Conversely, Henry made a forced sub – Adrien Truffert suffered an injury and Bradley Locko replaced him.Paris Olympics: Copy World Cup – paste Olympics! Merciless Morocco reach the semis!The combination from the fifth minute – Olise to Mateta – could’ve given France a 2-0 lead in the 68th minute after another corner, but the forward’s powerful header flew slightly over the bar. As much as La Albiceleste started the second half strong, their domination didn’t last long. After an hour mark, France took over the control over the game and went for another goal.Henry’s crew indeed found the net for the second time five minutes before the end, but Olise’s goal was disallowed after VAR’s intervention due to a foul. The ref from Uzbekistan caused the crowd’s additional rage after adding as many as ten minutes! However, France completely controlled the situation and were even closer to scoring another goal than the Argentinians to the equalizer since Mateta hit the crossbar seconds before the final whistle. This way, we’ll have two “Africa vs. Europe” semi-finals: Egypt – France and Morocco – Spain.OLYMPIC GAMES – MEN’S FOOTBALLQuarter-finalsFridayMorocco – USA 4-0 (1-0)/Rahimi 29 pen, Akhomach 63, Hakimi 70, Maouhoub 90+1 pen/Japan – Spain 0-3 (0-1)/F. Lopez 11, 73, Ruiz 86/Egypt – Paraguay 5-4 on pen (1-1)/Adel 88 – Gomez 71/France – Argentina 1-0 (1-0)/Mateta 5/
