Olympics Recap: France Defeat Argentina, Advance to Semis

France and Argentina are playing against each other in an international competition for the first time since the 2022 FIFA World Cup final in Qatar. Les Bleus have the home crowd advantage since the Olympics are in France and the squad gave their fans a chance to cheer early on in the match.

Theirry Henry and his team didn’t waste time finding the back of the net as Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta opened the scoring with a goal in the fifth minute. France would generate seven total shots while Argentina had five total shots in the first 45 minutes.

Both teams went into halftime with the French side holding a 1-0 lead. In the second half, the total number of shots tilted toward Argentina’s favor, as the South American nation recorded 11 total shots but couldn’t find the equalizing goal.

At one point, Les Bleus thought they had scored their second goal late in the second half, thanks to Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise. After a VAR review, the goal was removed after it was determined that AS Monaco’s Maghnes Akliouche committed a foul leading up to it.

France held onto their lead despite having their insurance goal removed. Toulouse FC’s Guillaume Restes was a star in this match, making four saves and keeping a clean sheet in the victory.

The host nation have made it to the semifinals, where they’ll take on Egypt, who advanced after winning a penalty shootout against Paraguay. Whoever advances from this Egypt-France matchup will face the winner of Morocco-Spain for the gold medal.

Photo credit: Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images

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