Arguably the two best soccer teams in the Paris Olympics 2024, Spain and France, squared off against Morocco and Egypt, respectively, in the semi-finals on Monday, August 5. Neither team had it easy, but through grit, quality, and bravado, the Spaniards and French prevailed in the final four, qualifying for Friday evening’s all-important Gold medal final. Losers Morocco and Egypt will take part in the Bronze medal match on Thursday.
Fermin Lopez Shines As Spain Beats Morocco
It was a spirited start from both sides at the Orange Velodrome in Marseille, with neither hesitating to venture into the dangerous areas. In the 21st minute, Barcelona ace Fermin Lopez had a go at the Moroccan goal from range. The ball looked destined to find the bottom-right corner but goalkeeper Arnau Tenas managed to parry it behind for a corner. La Roja could not trouble the goalkeeper from the set-piece, as Morocco had regrouped and plugged the gaps.
In the 33rd minute, luck broke Morocco’s way, as Pablo Barrios accidentally caught Amir Richardson inside the area. The referee did not award a penalty right away, but a VAR-advised pitchside review compelled him to change his mind. Kick-taker Soufiane Rahimi sent Munir the wrong way before slotting the ball into the right side of the goal. In the seventh minute of first-half injury time, Spain midfielder Alex Baena came agonizingly close to scoring the equalizer, with his outside-the-box effort clipping the outside of the right post before going out of play.
Spain upped the ante in the second half and got their equalizer through Lopez in the 65th minute. Adrian Bernabe did ever so well to penetrate the box under pressure from Moroccan defenders, but he could not keep possession. Luckily for Spain, the loose ball fell to Lopez, who opened up a bit of room before finding the netting with a left-footed strike. Twenty minutes later, La Roja scored the winner, thanks to a brilliant set-piece routine.
Lopez got on the ball after a short corner and released Juanlu Lopez with an outside-the-boot poke. The right-back charged down the inside-right channel and found the bottom left corner with a bit of assistance from the left post, sealing a 2-1 win for Spain in the Paris Olympics semi-finals.
France Stuns Egypt In Extra Time
In front of their fans at the Groupama Stadium in Decines-Charpieu, France came out all guns blazing against Egypt. But for most of the first half, Les Bleus could do very little to test the goalkeeper. France’s best attempt of the first half came in the 40th minute, as Loic Bade found the right post with his header from a corner.
Against the run of play, Egypt put their noses in front in the 62nd minute, with Mahmoud Saber converting from close range after being denied the first time. In the 74th minute, France hit the woodwork twice in a span of seconds, with Alexandre Lacazette finding the left post before Bade clipped the bar.
After coming agonizingly close on three occasions, France finally got its goal in the 83rd minute. Michael Olise carried the ball brilliantly from deep before releasing Jean-Philippe Mateta with an inch-perfect through ball. From close range, Mateta made no mistake in finding the back of the net.
After conceding, Egypt regrouped and denied France any more clear-cut goalscoring opportunities. With the scoreline at 1-1, the game went into extra time. Just a couple of minutes into the first half of extra time, Omar Fayed picked up a second yellow card for a poor foul. Down to 10 men, Egypt could not cope with France’s relentless pressure and conceded twice on either side of halftime.
In the 99th minute, Mateta doubled his tally, finding the netting with a close-range header. Then in the 108th minute, Mohamed Shehata botched his clearance, giving it straight to Olise, who applied a first-time finish to make it 3-1 for France and set up a mouthwatering Paris Olympics 2024 final.
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