Accompanied en masse by their blue, white and red supporters, France Thierry Henry qualified for the semi-finals of the men’s football tournament at Paris 2024 by beating Javier Mascherano’s Argentina 1-0 this Friday in Bordeaux.
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The tall striker Jean-Philippe Mateta’s header in the fifth minute sealed the much-anticipated final match of the Olympic quarter-finals, which ended with clashes between the delegations on the pitch and in the dressing room. Les Bleus will meet Egypt on Monday, who beat Paraguay on penalties earlier in Marseille, to determine which of the teams will fight for gold in the final on 9 August at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
The hosts had little trouble in dispatching their arch-rivals, who were unable to draw on the talent of a squad made up of four world champions: Gerónimo Rulli, Nicolás Otamendi, Thiago Almada and Julián Álvarez. The fans who filled the 42,000 seats of the Bordeaux stadium kept the rivalry alive by booing the Albicelestes from the moment they came out onto the field to warm up, and then raised the temperature by whistling the Argentine anthem.
The situation had already occurred in previous matches, probably due to the chant – described as racist and homophobic – of the Albiceleste players against their French counterparts during the celebration of the title of the recent Copa América in the United States. And, of course, because of the blow caused in the final of the Qatar-2022 World Cup, won by Lionel Messi and company against Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann.
All absent from the Parisian games. Led by ‘Titi’ Henry with a perfect path to the top of Group A, France set the conditions from the start of a match in which they merged with their compatriots in the stands, surrendered to the men captained by the seasoned striker Alexandre Lacazette.
Captain Mateta and winger Michael Olise drove Mascherano’s defence crazy, breaking through in the blink of an eye with a header from the Crystal Palace striker after a corner taken by the Bayern Munich forward.
During the day there was calm in Bordeaux, where few Argentine fans came, eager to win their third gold medal (Athens-2004 and Beijing-2008, with Masche as a player), but the pressure increased as the minutes passed until it reached its peak at the end of the game, as soon as the referee blew the final whistle.
Fight at the end
At the end of the match, after a lot of tension, both teams had a fight on the field.
Apparently, the French coaching staff provoked Argentina’s substitutes and that’s when the brawl broke out. Both teams even ran into the tunnel to continue the confrontation.
SPORTS WITH AFP
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