Football: France advances to the quarterfinals to face Argentina

France men’s football team advances to quarter-finals Paris Olympics After defeating New Zealand (3-0) in Marseille on Tuesday, the team will face Argentina in Bordeaux on Friday for a place in the semi-finals. The rivalry between the two teams has been intense ever since. The Blues lost the final on penalties During the 2022 Qatar World Cup The racist chants that followedSome supporters chanted “Celebrate Argentina’s victory” to the French players.

The event resumed in July after Argentina won the Copa America, and a video circulated on social networks showed Albiceleste players, including Enzo Fernandez, Singing the same racist rhetoric Against French players.

Tensions are therefore set to be high in Bordeaux, with Thierry Henry’s Blues having won three group games, and Argentina, one of the favourites of the tournament with four world champions but only second in Group B. At the end of an incredible game Almost four hours.

The French can finally breathe

The Blues will be ready and up to the task. On Tuesday in Marseille, they quietly beat New Zealand (1-0) thanks to a quick and opportunistic goal from Jean-Philippe Mateta (19th), and then controlled the rest of the match. In the second half against New Zealand, Désiré Doué doubled the lead (2-0, 71st), then Arnaud Kalimuendo made the score worse (3-0, 74th), while French goalkeeper Obed Nkambadio was not good. In the final moments of the game, he hit the ball beautifully from a long-range lob (90th + 3).

Due to the limited strength, the New Zealand team sent almost all the starting players of the team: only the captain and scorer of the day, Jean-Philippe Mateta, and the central defender Castro Lukeba continued to play against New Zealand. Since Alexandre Lacazette, Michael Olise and even goalkeeper Guillaume Restes were rested, the national Olympic team coach Thierry Henry took the opportunity to play players who had rarely or not played since the start of the competition on July 24, such as Rayan Cherki of Lyon, Sugutu Magatha of Monaco and Kali Mundo and Douai of Rennes, who were all scorers.

Thierry Henry is very smart

The French coach also made mischievous use of the somewhat peculiar rules of Olympic football, taking advantage of minor injuries to some players, including midfielder Enzo Milotte, and recalled substitutes Chrislan Mazima, John Lepennant and Andy Diouf, all of whom started against New Zealand.

All three nations would qualify for medals if France wins at the end of the tournament, which would not be the case if they do not appear on any of the match sheets for the tournament. The rotation also allows Henry to avoid the risk of four players (Luik Bader, Kylian Cirdilia, Manu Kone and Alexandre Lacazette) being suspended in the quarter-finals after being warned in the first two games. To overcome an Argentina side they may not have expected to face so soon, the smart Blues would take every opportunity on their side.