In a draw held in Saint-Denis, with great personalities from the world of sports, the groups of the men's and women's teams were established. On this occasion, the women's competition will close this sport in the jousts for the first time.
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The countdown to Paris 2024 is getting shorter and shorter and shorter for football. It will be the first of the sports to start competitions and will do so on July 24 for men and July 25 for women, just before the official opening of the Games.
Today, on the outskirts of the French capital, the groups were defined for the previously qualified teams and those still waiting to obtain the last places corresponding to the continents of Asia and Africa.
The leading cities in charge of witnessing the best footballers in their categories will be: Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Saint-Étienne, Nantes and Nice.
“When you are a coach, you never talk about whether the group is easy or difficult, you talk about how tough and tight the groups are, because you know how hard it is to win. We are at home and we feel proud to be local. That's what that really matters,” said Hervé Renard, coach of the French women's team, once the draw was over where he met the rivals he will face to fight for the gold medal.
But while for women the competition in the Olympics represents a simile to that of the World Cup, for men, the regulations and ambitions change as it is an Under-23 tournament in which only 3 players on the squad can exceed this age. Latin American countries will seek to ensure that the gold medal continues in this region, as it has been from Athens 2004 to Tokyo 2020.
The most attractive intersections
In the men's teams, groups like B, where the double gold medalist, Argentina, will have as rivals Ukraine, Morocco and the team that finishes in third place in the Asia Under-23 tournament. The albiceleste is directed by Javier Mascherano, former player and former Olympic champion.
For its part, Paraguay will seek to be on an Olympic podium again after 20 years without participating in this competition. Group D of which he is a part also awaits a representative from Asia, in addition to being with the selection of Mali and Israel.
Group A is where it seems there will be more action. Three top teams such as the United States, France at home, as fans, and New Zealand await the fourth team that will emerge from an international playoff between Asia and Africa.
As for the women's branch, it seems that there will be no bad game. Three groups with 12 teams that have been giving something to talk about for their football and their results. Without a doubt, France vs. Colombia in group A will steal the spotlight as it is the inaugural women's match.
For their part, Germany, champion in Rio 2016, and the United States, winner of four of the six gold medals played, will have the task of making up for a difficult World Cup in which they were not protagonists. Up front they will have the Matildas, the Australian team, who will surely be without their top scorer, Sam Kerr, due to injury. Zambia or Morocco will complete group B.
Finally, we will have the current world and Nations League champions, Spain, who will once again face Japan, as happened in the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. In addition, they will have Brazil, champions of South America, with a new coach, after the dismissal of the Swedish Pia Sundhague from the bench. Nigeria or South Africa will complete the group.
Men's clubs are reluctant before Paris 2024
As they do not take place on FIFA dates, the world's football clubs are not obliged to lend their players for the Olympic Games, which is why speculation and comments have already been presented on different teams and possible future signings.
The novel between Kylian Mbappé and Real Madrid seems to have no end. Now, when the signing with the meringues seems almost a fact, the refusal of the Spanish to lend their team for Paris 2024 could generate some discomfort in the Frenchman and cloud the process.
The Madrid directives have argued, according to AFP, this decision in a matter of health and well-being for its athletes, since medically it is almost unfeasible to play the Copa América, Euro Cup and Olympic Games in a period of time of 3 months and continue with the start of local seasons. This decision would not only affect Mbappé, but also Eduardo Camavinga and Aurélien Tchouaméni.
Argentina seems to be having the same problem with the 3 spots for senior players. Mascherano, his coach, has stated that he wants to have Lionel Messi and Ángel Di María in his ranks, who also already know what it means to win the gold medal. The difficulty will be in the tight calendar they have with their senior teams, due to participation in the Copa América and their commitments with the clubs.
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