We also had a rematch of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Final this time at an Olympics soccer match between France and Argentina at Stade Velodrome in Marseille.
This time, the one and only early header off a corner by Crystal Palace No.9 Jean Phillipe-Mateta was enough to see off Argentina the whole way through for France thanks to a series of Argentinian missed opportunities with the 1-0 win. Now the host nation will take on Egypt on Tuesday morning at 5am AEST whose next opponents got away with the win earlier today v Paraguay via penalties 5-4 when both teams settled the score 1-1 after a long 120 minutes of open time.
Disappointing from Argentina with the loss despite having lots of ball there to try and kick out France of the Men’s Olympic soccer tournament. But then they kept on hitting and missing these shots on goal that gave the French keeper a sigh of relief time and time again, which was unfortunately not good enough at the end of the day following their last 8 exit. They might have made the knockout stages for the first time since their gold medal run back in 2008 in Beijing but they will have to wait four years if Argentina wants it back that could be 20 years since their last Olympics soccer triumph come LA in 2028.
And well done to France on what has been a magnificent win v Argentina on home soil with unfinished business by their head coach Thierry Henry. Love seeing Phillipe-Mateta sprint on time for that header where he’s so lethal in all fronts that a No.9 should do as proven in the Premier League for Crystal Palace. Yes, there’s nothing the French can do when their second goal was ruled out by VAR. But despite not having much ball opportunities, the French were fortunate enough to escape the Argentinians unscathed with the 1-0 win. Now they’ve yet to have played in Paris so far but it looks like France will need their full support on Monday night over there in Lyon, so they can hopefully finish off a high v the winner of Morocco or Spain.
