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From Saturday: Man City def. Man Utd this time via penalties for the pre-season FA Community Shield at Wembley since 2019

by Sports Benches

From yet another Manchester Derby weekend this time for the pre-season Community Sheid trophy at Wembley Stadium, this match went the other way round via penalty shootouts between two of the recent English Football champions – 23/24 Premier League winners Manchester City and 23/24 FA Cup winners Manchester United.

Man Utd as always got away with the scoresheets first that late thanks to substitute winger Alejandro Garnacho off the right flank. But then a fellow attacking sub at the opposite end of Bernardo Silva went on to quickly rebound a few mins later for Man City that held their Manchester rivals back after a long 90-100 mins of normal time followed by another half-hour’s play as the game had to be decided via penalties at 1-1 apiece. 

Man City were so close towards closing out another FA triumph when they capped off their inconsistent season with the FA Cup back in May that would mean a direct entry into the Europa League group stages, but then a series of late penalty misses unfortunately paved the way for Man City to end their years-long drought with that trophy plate since 2019 by 8-7. That was close there by Man Utd who thought the Community Shield trophy would be theirs that would mean yet another trophy for head coach Erik Ten Hag after all the stick he’s getting since he first took over back in the summer of 2022. There’s still a long way to go when it comes to winning back the Premier League title with Sir Richard Ratcliffe onboard as their minor owner and Man Utd hasn’t done that since Sir Alex Ferguson retired after he finished his long decorated career on a high back in 2013.

Meanwhile, great to see Man City lift the Community Shield plate having bounced back from behind when things were so quiet for the most part on what has been a terrific comeback to enter the new Premier League season with a trophy. Gotta say the late subs as well as their excellent penalty kicking options after holding back Man Utd worked well on their favour. 

Yes, it won’t an easy one for sure as seen over the last few Premier League seasons when you got Arsenal sniffing around top spot thanks to his student Mikel Arteta. But they’ve been there and done that by covering themselves in glory over the last decade or so and Man City will surely want to be the best by winning every completion they’ve got available across the whole of England, then Europe and also the World, especially with the proper Club World Cup happening in mid-2025.

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Paris 2024 Closing Ceremony: Australia’s best ever Olympic Games campaign as we say goodbye to Paris

by Sports Benches

One word to describe our Aussie Olympic Games performance at Paris 2024: simply extraordinary!! That’s right we finished 4th overall on the medal tally with 18 gold, 18 silver and 14 bronze after 16-18 days of action, which is our most successful games ever since Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 with also back-to-back 4th.

Sure, we might not be the biggest country when it comes to size and investments with likes of USA and China who always finish 1st and 2nd, but still we had plenty of stunning gold medal moments though including some in silver and bronze when it comes to various other sports as we relive our golden fortnight.

Our Aussie Dolphins Swim Team always as strong as ever in the pool with seven gold medals despite being pipped by Team USA on the ninth and final night last weekend. We continue to see more success of Jess Fox with her sister Noemie now a first time Olympic gold medalist in the women’s canoeing events that made her canoeing family proud with their parents dad Richard (a former British slalom canoeist) & mum Myriam (also a former French canoeist who won bronze back via the K1 class race in Atlanta 1996 for France), especially where Jess and Noemie are both Western Sydneysiders from Penrith. 

We also love riding with glory on a bicycle where one came on the road from Grace Brown via time trial, another coming from BMX in Saya Sakakibara after an emotional last few years, and one on the velodrome with the men’s team pursuit.

What else? We went skateboarding & collected two gold there thanks to 14-year-old Arisa Trew & 23-year-old Keegan Palmer in their respective women’s and men’s park events. We also can’t forget our men’s tennis triumph last weekend at Roland Garros when Matt Ebden & John Peers came from behind to win over USA’s Austin Krajicek & Rajeev Ram via 3rd set tiebreak to 10 in the men’s doubles Final since Todd Woodbridge & Mark Woodforde back in Atlanta 1996. 

We also did well over in the sailing when Matthew Wearn successfully defended the men’s laser event from Tokyo 2020 on what has been his second straight Olympic gold triumph. And finally in the track and field/athletics, Nina Kennedy became the 18th and final Aussie gold medalist of Paris 2024 when she won Olympics gold for the first time in the women’s pole vault – how good was that!!

She had an outstanding 12-24 months that began with Diamond League & Commonwealth Games title in 2022 as well as by a World Championship win last year in Budapest, Hungry, and now Nina’s an Olympic champion fast forward to Paris 2024!! Keep an eye out for her as she has came from a long way since her setbacks at the start of this 2020s decade & she knows how to respond with by achieving so many huge accolades along the way!!

As Paris 2024 has drawn to an excellent close, we now say goodbye to Paris who has been a great host over these last 16-18 days of world-class sports competition. Next stop: Los Angeles in the United States of America when the 34th Summer Olympics edition will take place in July 14-30 2028.

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Olympics Soccer News: USWNT win back the Women’s Olympic Gold thanks to Mallory Swanson one & only winning goal over Brazil in Emma Hayes’s first title as their new coach 

by Sports Benches

Here’s another Olympic Soccer moment in the women’s gold medal match from overnight at Parc Des Princes in Paris and the USA women’s national soccer team aka USWNT has won back the gold medal over Brazil 1-0 since the London 2012 edition. It’s the fifth time they’ve done it that goes back to Atlanta 1996, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and now Paris 2024. What’s next now is for USWNT to win back the World Cup in 2027 where they’ve made a big name for themselves over the last two decades with four World Cup titles that goes back to 1999 on home soil over China at Rose Bowl in California.

It was quiet first half run where both teams ended up scoreless without the net. But fortunately, striker Mallory Swanson (nee Pugh) scored the one and only gold medal winning goal in the 57th minute for USWNT, as the US side defended so well including a valiant display from the keeper Alyssa Naeher towards the very end after a long 100 mins of play across two halves.

It’s Emma Hayes’s first major honour as their new head coach since the summer following a long decorated stint with the Chelsea ladies team in the WSL, which is the women’s equivalent of the men’s Premier League competition. Yes, there was doubt about a few experienced players being left out but time must go on to rejuvenate this USWNT squad with a few new youngsters coming in and it’s so far, so good with still a long way to go.

And heartbreak to Brazil with another silver medal yet again for the third time in women’s Olympic soccer history. They weren’t bad for a start in defense to keep the USWNT quiet at times, Brazil just couldn’t grasp the best out of their attacking play where things were so unlucky at times. But then time ran out against them and there’s nothing Brazil can do about it as they too also came from a long way to get where they want to be, having last done that back in Athens 2004,

Don’t forget they haven’t played in an Women’s World Cup Final since China 2007 over a 2-0 loss to Germany and with a home World Cup around the corner in 2027, it’s going to be a big opportunity for them to finally go one better when the Brazil women’s soccer team always fell short despite their early group stage and knockout success outside of these Finals.

What a way to finish off the Paris 2024 Olympics Soccer tournament with Spain breaking the host nation hearts of France yesterday in the men’s and USWNT just returned to winning ways once again over Brazil. While there’s nothing we can do about it about our Matildas’ early exit when there’s no Sam Kerr due to a ongoing ACL knee injury, a new era awaits though from here later this year with a new coach now that Tony Gustavsson recently left last week after a roller coaster last few years.

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Paris 2024 Aquatics Review: A string of silver for our Aussie Women’s Water Polo Team & Moesha Johnson in the women’s 10km open water swim as well as Maddison Keeney for bronze in the women’s 3m springboard dive

by Sports Benches

The Paris 2024 swimming program may be over last weekend where our Aussie Dolphins Swim Team still had great success despite falling short to Team USA when it comes to this sport’s medal tally alone as our big battles ain’t over anytime soon, that way we can go on & win back this pool like it was several times before. 

However, there’s more to water/aquatics when it comes to the 2nd week Olympics program, having also achieved good success — even though we were so close to winning gold in Marathon Swimming as well as Water Polo and Diving programs. 

Now that would be a big boost when it comes to future World Aquatics Championships with the next edition going to Singapore in about 11 months time from now.

First of all, shoutout to Moesha Johnson who finished silver behind Sharon Van Rouwendaal from the Netherlands in the women’s 10km open water swimming event while Chelsea Gubeca finished 14th. Gotta say Moesha has improved a lot this year when it comes to her marathon swimming career, she was fourth individually earlier this year at the World Champs in Doha including the team gold there.

She too alerted all of Australia off the back of her specialist swimming discipline success which is the long-form events including some long-distance swimming in the pool as we need more of these marathon swimmers like her. Sure she can go one better if she can for LA28 & let’s hope our future marathon swimmers for those looking to take up soon enough can take her lead for gold going into the home Summer Olympics edition for Brisbane 2032.

We also didn’t forget Nicholas Sloman & Kyle Lee with the men’s 10km open water swimming event. Yes, trying to reaching gold may not be our biggest strength unlike some of our pool swimmers at this stage. But seeing both of them within the Top 15 ain’t bad though with Sloman just outside the Top 10 in 11th while Lee came home in 13th. Again, we need and can do more to inspire more young kids to take up marathon swimming for the best chance of success both in here and worldwide.

If one silver medal wasn’t enough, why not we look at our Women’s Stingers Water Polo team? They too fell so short last night by only two goals (9-11) v Spain in the gold medal final off the back of their unreal campaign in the lead up to this big dance undefeated at Paris La Defense Arena. Now they had an equal start with Spain from the beginning while the Stingers made a late charge to hold back Spain but their inconsistent play midway through the match fell into Spain’s favour and their opponents were the one that got themselves home with the Olympics gold.

Unlucky but this is the team we should be proud of having won gold before back in Sydney 2000. We are absolutely confident that our women’s Stingers team can go one better towards setting up regular world-class success as the one of the top water polo powerhouse nations in the world. Keep an eye on them on a regular basis for their support where they also got Tilly Kearns (who plays centre forward) as one of the players there and she’s related to her dad who is a former Wallaby in none other than Phil Kearns.

And in the Diving, shoutout to Maddison Keeney with her silver medal success in the women’s 3m springboard. She had an excellent performance despite not being able to reach gold that won her multiple World Championships before, having split the two Chinese divers in between gold and bronze. But again, we got another amazing diver on our hands & fingers crossed she will go back to at least 1 if not 2 more games to bow out on a high with a breakthrough Olympics gold – keep an eye on her too including next year’s Worlds.

So that’s all you need to know as we enjoyed watching our aquatics athletes take centre stage in Paris that showcased their best abilities for those watching at home and also in-person with credit to our parents’ sheer hard work of making their sons and daughters dreams made come true. Can’t wait to see Australia hopefully take extra rewards of gold medals in world aquatics beyond pool swimming going into next year’s Worlds in Singapore & the next Summer Olympics in LA come 2028. 

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Olympics Soccer News: Spain def. France to end their long-awaited Olympics gold medal chase since Barcelona 1992 after a stunning finish in added extra time by 5-3

by Sports Benches

Heartbreak from the host nation France with the silver medal following their 3-1 loss to Spain at Parc Des Princes, especially when they haven’t played in Paris at all until the one and only time now. 

So a bit like the Blackcaps really in cricket when they’ve been unbeaten in New Zealand all along until they’ve lost to the Aussies with the World Cup Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground back in 2015.

For France, gotta say the starting goal keeper should’ve done any better to save these shots at his own end – which was disappointing really when Spain got away with 2-3 easy goals. They’ve did the best though possible off the back of their good start including their late charge to unseat Spain for the gold medal honours. But again, their extra time performance was as the same as the keeper’s first half display unfortunately. Not even having less ball on their own defensive end allowed Spain to extend their lead during another half hour’s play in Paris by 5-3.

As said, you gotta feel sorry for the French attackers who did their best to give their home crowd a best possible ending for gold. But Spain holds the cards though as the end of the day for gold since Barcelona 1992, having lost to Brazil last time round four years ago at Tokyo 2020 (in 2021 due to COVID) 2-0 via extra time.

Speaking of Spain, they’ve been unstoppable from 1-0 down to 3-1 going into half-time thanks to a double Fermin Lopez strike. Yes, they may have been held up at the first attempt following a high stakes 3-3 all after 100 minutes of two halves. But again, they are the team who ran the French defenses wild thanks to their expansive attacking play that rattled the opposition keeper all day long when substitute Sergio Camello scored back-to-back late extra time goals — and that is how you finish off a gold medal performance in Olympics soccer for Spain.

Now there’s two more days to go before Paris 2024 is done and dusted with the Closing Ceremony at Stade De France.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: Yibbi Jansen’s late penalty corner strike saves the day for the women’s Dutch team via penalty shootouts over China to complete the double triumph alongside the men’s at Paris 2024

by Sports Benches

Looks like the Netherlands have flipped the script that late off the back of China’s early 1-0 lead for the most part, even via penalties to successfully defend their Olympics Field Hockey crown from Tokyo 2020. Hats off to Yibbi Jansen who scored that usual penalty corner goal as always in the last 15 mins that levelled the scoresheets with China 1-1 after an hour’s of normal time before goal keeper Anne Veenendaal deflected most of the shots from China — and that helped the Dutch scorers score their way to a 5th overall Olympics gold medal in Field Hockey 3-1 via penalties over China. They’ve first won it back in LA 1984, Beijing 2008, London 2012, Tokyo 2020 and now Paris 2024.

What a tournament it has been to wrap up the double Dutch Olympics triumph off the back of their men’s team success yesterday v Germany also via penalty shootouts (3-1 after a 1-1 draw after 60 minutes). They knew China wasn’t en easy team to face at all, especially when you got former Hockeyroo as well as Dutch citizen and resident these days Alyson Annan as the opposition head coach. 

They have seen that coming with China’s early 1-0 headstart but at least the Dutch keep on attacking and pressing hard for the most part v the Chinese defense. Although as said, the penalty corners weren’t easy to say when you are playing in an Olympic Final; But at least Yibbi has always got when she finally found the breakthrough to stop the Alyson Annan’s Chinese team from reaching the finish line with her flying Dutch being Olympic Hockey champs once again. It’s been great watching her and her Dutch team play this year so far as seen a few times throughout the 23/24 Pro League season.

And looking at China, you gotta feel how much they’ve made it to the big dance – in which was so much hard work being paid off. We know how good they were to get the ball rolling as seen plenty of times throughout 2024 against the Hockeyroos which was tough to watch from an opposition’s standpoint with a few wins here and there and that early goal have sent the Dutch a big message when it comes to the gold medal fight. Don’t forget they’ve been at their best defensively where China did the best they could to hold out to a close 1-0 win.

However, what really let the Chinese down though is having less ball where they couldn’t get the chance to build on their 1-0 lead on top of their solid defense before Yibbi Jansen’s penalty corner goal in the last 15 took away that chance to hold out the win at the first attempt. Then the penalties have arrived after an hour’s worth of normal time and China just couldn’t find the sweet spot they were after when it comes to these penalty strikes & that was the game it was unfortunately with another runner-up finish. They are currently ranked 8th so China have came from a long way but sure winning more regular season games would be the next best thing soon enough.

So that’s it over in Stade Yves-Du-Manoir Stadium – the home of the 1924 Summer Olympics edition at the same Paris venue 100 years ago. It’s been a whirlwind two weeks of Olympics Field Hockey in Paris 2024 as they’ve been an excellent host while it remains to be seen where our Men’s Kookaburras and Women’s Hockeyroos teams go from there in a bid to win back major honours once again.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: The Men’s Dutch team has done over Germany via penalty shootout for Gold at Paris 2024

by Sports Benches

That Men’s Hockey Gold Medal Final was unbelievable to watch, particularly in the 4th and final quarter as well as penalty shootouts between the Netherlands and Germany. Both teams struggled to find the net for the most part until Netherlands found the first strike before Germany held them back at a penalty corner to bring it to a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw in an hour’s worth of normal time. From then on, Germany unfortunately unable to get away with any successful strokes that paved the way for the Dutch to end their 24-year drought for gold at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir since Sydney 2000 – which was mission accomplished 3-1 in a penalties decider that completed payback from their London 2012 runner-up loss v Germany.

Now the Dutch can finally celebrate gold off the back of their top form where they’ve always been the best of the best in yearly FIH Pro League matches including this Olympics Field Hockey tournament. Shoutout to the experienced keeper Pirmin Blaak who never looked out of place every time he deflected these strikes from the Germans while the defense wasn’t bad and their penalty shooters have been brilliant through the net that sealed them a long-awaited Olympics gold. Now what the Dutch needs to do now is win back both the Pro League & the World Cup. The next Men’s World Cup will be in 2026 on home soil in Amstelveen alongside Belgium’s Wavre and the last time they’ve accomplished that feat was also previously on home soil at Utrecht back in 1998 with the 3-2 extra time win v Spain. 

Heartbreak from Germany with the silver medal as this is the side who also has been at their best but only at major tournaments, such as last year’s World Cup tournament in India and not when it comes to regular season form often v the top teams (6th in 23/24 Pro League term). Their defense wasn’t bad either to start off with & they’ve also benefitted from winning penalties as we’ve seen with the successful penalty corner in the last 15 mins that gave themselves another chance to try win another major title in the form of an Olympics Games gold medal. It’s a shame that their penalty attackers weren’t prepared well to press the experienced Dutch keeper at his own end where he kept all of these hit and miss shots before they well & truly know that the Dutch can have their cake with the gold medal by then following a 3-1 penalties loss there. They may have been great winning these rare tournament titles, but Germany needs to find a way if they wish to beat these top teams more often – so they can hopefully be the No.1 Men’s Hockey team in the World once again next time. 

Now we’ve got the women’s gold medal match to decide before the Olympics Field Hockey program is done tomorrow morning between the Netherlands and China as China’s head coach & former Hockeyroo Alyson Annan is set for mighty Dutch reunion this time as the opposing team. Will that Dutch triumph extend to the women’s team after we just saw with the men earlier this morning? Or will we see a Chinese breakthrough at last with the help of Annan following their Beijing 2008 silver medal loss to that same team last time out? It’s all to play for between these two strong teams at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir.

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Part 2: Wednesday’s Women’s Field Hockey semi-final day review at Paris 2024: Netherlands also unstoppable v Argentina & China win over Belgium via penalty shootouts

by Sports Benches

Following two unmissable men’s semi-finals matches from Tuesday, more Field Hockey action in Paris 2024 continued last night with the women’s semi-final day at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir stadium. One was the Netherlands v Argentina and the other involving Belgium v China as the two winning teams will be set for Friday afternoon’s/Saturday AM gold medal match while the two losing sides will still get one last chance v each other but this time via the best of 3rd place for bronze.

Like we’ve seen with the men’s Netherlands semi-final performance two days ago v Spain, the women’s Netherlands were also unstoppable including defensively with 2 x first half goals from open play followed by a usual Yibbi Jansen stunner when it comes to scoring goals off penalty corners for the 3rd Dutch goal. Despite an improved Argentina ball during the 2nd half, the Netherlands at least ensured they left the game without any Argentina goals 3-0.

Looking at Argentina, they did have some fair share of chances following their improved 2nd half play as no doubt they have been a serious side on a regular basis including this tournament. But again, Argentina’s poor start alongside the execution unfortunately didn’t help them that much, especially when going up against one of the best attacking sides in none other than the Netherlands. Their breakthrough chance for gold after a few shortcomings will have to wait in LA 2028.

And to finish off the women’s semi-final day was a cracking physical encounter between Belgium and China that went down the wire following a 1-1 draw after an hour of normal time via penalty shootouts. China had the early lead off a penalty corner when both teams were scoreless during the first 15 mins & they held that 1-0 advantage for the most part until Belgium scored the equaliser also from a penalty corner with two minutes to go before the match had to be decided via penalties since it’s a knockout semi-final.

Fortunately for China, they found a way once more to book themselves a gold medal spot v Netherlands come Friday/Saturday AM with the 3-2 penalties win that marked a reunion for coach former Hockeyroo Alyson Annan, who used to coach the women’s Netherlands side for so long, even though she lives there and also as a naturalised citizen these days alongside her Dutch partner Carole Thate. Wow!! Great game from both teams by the way when Belgium found themselves back in the game off the back of their good defense and the way they’ve pressed China in the 2nd half until these two missing penalty shots that forced China’s hand and China had a really good match once again that can break anyone team’s hearts as their journey isn’t over just yet on what is about to be their biggest test yet against someone Annan knows so well in none other than the Netherlands. The last time China made the Olympics final was back in Beijing 2008 where they were runner-up to the Netherlands 2-0 as Alyson has the Dutch tactics and know-how to help engineer her Chinese players home for gold.

We now got a London 2012 men’s (Holland v Germany) and Beijing 2008 women’s gold medal (Holland v China) rematches coming our way where this could end up either way going into Tomorrow & Saturday AM our time. Will we see a Dutch triumph this time that could extend that glory to their women’s team or else see Germany and China get their own breakthroughs instead against a team that is so hard to beat right now? We shall see before Paris 2024 finishes this weekend.

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Part 1: Tuesday’s Men’s Field Hockey semi-finals day review at Paris 2024: Netherlands too good v Spain & Germany def. India after an excellent last 15 mins to the match, 3-2

by Sports Benches

It may have been an unfortunate end for both of our Men’s Kookaburras and Wonen’s Hockeyroos teams earlier this week following their respective exits from the Quarter-Finals against the Netherlands & China, but the show must go on at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir as we look back at these excellent last two days of Field Hockey when it comes to the both men’s and women’s semi-finals. First of all, Netherlands were absolutely too good against Spain on what has been a mighty 4-0 win that kickstarted Tuesday evening our time/afternoon in Paris. They scored a goal during each quarter where the first 15 x mins one was off a penalty stroke and another three came from dominant & expansive open play – which simply sensational to watch. Looks like a gold medal opportunity is finally coming when they previously won it back in Sydney 2000 on top of Atlanta 1996.

Tough luck from Spain who had a few chances of their own but just couldn’t grasp at a level where the flying Netherlands team has set the standard that was unchallenged & unmatched all game. Out of 19 Olympic Field Hockey appearances, Spain still haven’t yet collected a gold medal triumph after 3 x silver attempts back in 1980, 1996 and 2008. They can still walk away with a medal though but it will be for bronze and the last time Spain has done that for 3rd was way back in Rome 1960.

Then that 2nd semi match between Germany and India was a thrilling close match where one gets to still be in the running whereas the losing side may continue to play once more but this time for the bronze medal match. India got away with the early lead thanks to the winning penalties following their unreal Quarter-Final escape the other day v Team GB via Penalty Shootouts. But at the end of the day though, Germany had the better attacking ground that puts them one step closer now to tomorrow morning’s gold medal match while India threw these chances away, especially in the 4th and final quarter having unable to get out of trouble any further past the Germans following a painful semi-final blow for the gold medal Final by 3-2.

Hard luck by India even without Amit Rhodas over his stick hit on a Team GB player that saw him forced to sit out over a red card during the Quarter-Final match the other day, but they still weren’t bad though nonetheless all game until the last quarter as a few errors here and there saw Germany reap the rewards by taking greater control of the pitch going forward for the win. Speaking of Germany, it’s been a while since their London 2012 win against the exact same next opponents, as they are now through to Thursday afternoon’s/Friday AM final v Netherlands. It’s going to be the best of the best clash as to whether or not if Germany still holds being the best Olympic Hockey side or else it’s the Netherlands turn who has been winning lots of games elsewhere but not very often though when it comes to winning silverware at the highest levels.

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Olympics Soccer News: Jean-Phillipe Mateta and Michael Olise saves the day for France to a home gold medal final v Spain following a 3-1 win over Egypt via extra time in Lyon

by Sports Benches

Wow!! We thought the host nation France would be out at one stage when the first half was quiet and Egypt got away with the early 2nd half goal. But wait, the 2nd semi-final of the Paris 2024 men’s soccer tournament wasn’t over just yet when France held Egypt back with the 1-1 equaliser at the end of 90 mins normal time. Since it’s a knockout match, the game went into extra time where France not only scored one but two more goals during the extra half-hour that secured them a gold medal match at PSG’s Parc De Princes Stadium in Paris this weekend v Spain. Gotta hail their main man & their main striker who plays for Crystal Palace in Jean-Phillipe Mateta. He scored two brilliant goals where he can do everything that a No.9 requires such as mainly scoring goals as well as beating opposition defenders that kept France’s hopes alive – one for the equaliser late in the 2nd half and another to overtake Egypt for the lead during the 1st extra time period. 

Plus, shoutout his national team-mate and now former Crystal Palace club team-mate, having just joined Bayern Munich recently, and his name is Michael Olise over in the No.10 attacking midfield role. Olise also played a huge role earlier this morning with one assist for his former club team-mate Mateta as well as one late goal to safeguard France’s semi-final win over Egypt 3-1. Imagine that lethal partnership of Mateta and Olise if that went on and on going into the new Premier League season had Elise not moved clubs from Crystal Palace to Bayern but no denying the dream of Olise wanting to play for one of the best teams in the world, especially if it’s the Bundesliga in Germany where Bayern have won lots of titles there in the past.

And yes, heartbreak to Egypt who may have got away with the good 2nd half when both teams struggled to find the net early on. But they just couldn’t find a way to get on hold of them through the end, especially when less ball didn’t help that much. Although they can still bow out on a high for the Bronze Medal Match this Friday v another African side via Morocco. France is now set for a homecoming finish to the host city in Paris where they’ve yet to play there so far as let’s see if they can pull this off towards a home gold medal win v Spain this Friday afternoon over there/very early Saturday at 2 AM AEST.

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