The French team qualified for the semi-finals of the Paris Olympic tournament on Friday by beating Argentina in Bordeaux, in a hostile climate which led to clashes on the field at the end of the match. Blues will face Egypt on Monday in Lyon for a place in the final.
The end of the game was eventful, with players from both teams coming to blows at the final whistle. These incidents earned French midfielder Enzo Millot a red card. A most unusual spectacle in an Olympic setting.
“I don’t want to get into that debate.“, said French coach Thierry Henry, preferring to talk about football, just like his Argentinian counterpart Javier Mascherano, who did not mention the clashes after the match.
“Our players suffered a lot of provocations in this game.” assured the president of the French Football Federation (FFF) Philippe Diallo on Radio France.
Tensions have been high between the two nations since Argentina won the 2022 World Cup, with goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez’s obscene celebrations and racist chants by both Argentinian fans and players against French footballers to celebrate their victories.
Friday’s match came two weeks after FIFA announced an investigation into racist and homophobic chants targeting Kylian Mbappe and others. Bluestaken up in video by players of theAlbiceleste after their Copa America victory in mid-July.
The Argentine Olympic team was greeted with hostility, its anthem booed by the public.
Boulevard
The French thought they had taken cover before this stormy outcome: when they all ran towards Michael Olise, teammates, substitutes, the staff and Thierry Henry in the first place.
In the 84th minute of the match, when France was leading 1-0, the future Bayern Munich winger, the best Frenchman since the start of the tournament, thought he had finally delivered his team but his goal was disallowed after the call for video assistance.
No matter: France held out for the few minutes that separated them from the end of regulation time and the ten others added in added time.
THE Blues have therefore given themselves a boulevard. In the semi-finals, they will face Egypt, the team a priori the weakest of the last four contenders with Spain and Morocco, rinsed what is more by a quarter finished on penalties against Paraguay.
But de Mateta
Encouraged by a French public loudly celebrating Olympic titles won in swimming, the Blues took their Argentinian opponents by the throat from the start of the match.
This cannonball start was rewarded in the fifth minute of the match, when on a corner obtained and taken by Olise, Jean-Philippe Mateta freed himself from the marking of Nicolas Otamendi to cut the ball with his head at the near post and find the side netting of Geronimo Rulli (1-0, 5th).
For 20 minutes, the French did not release their grip, with Enzo Millot (18th) and Mateta again (19th) coming close to completely sinking the Albiceleste, totally apathetic.
Argentina eventually woke up, making better use of the possession they generally dominated, and Guillaume Restes, the French goalkeeper, had to deploy to prevent Ezequiel Fernandez from equalising with a long-range shot (28th).
Then, and until the end of the game, the Argentinian attacks were all contained by a defense that had never been so precise, compact and united since the start of the tournament.
The only downside is the suspensions of midfielder Manu Koné, for receiving a second yellow card, and that of Enzo Millot.
Finally, arousing the enthusiasm that accompanies the French during these Games, the Blues are launched and it will be difficult to stop them if they display the same level of play until the end.