France stretched their unbeaten run at the 2024 Olympic football tournament following a narrow 1-0 win over Argentina, setting up a semi-final date with high-flying Egypt. This is the first time that France will appear in the semis since 1984.
This highly-anticipated encounter was started off by Jean-Philippe Mateta, who calmed early nerves with a headed home, very well-placed corner from Michael Olise within minutes of kick-off. The goal, only France’s second first-half strike of the tournament, electrified the home crowd at Matmut Atlantique.
Despite dominance by France, Argentina continued to see plenty of the ball but couldn’t find any sort of rhythm. Les Bleus exploited some big gaps in the visitors’ defense with alarming regularity, but the clinical finishing was somehow absent. France teenage goalkeeper Guillaume Restes was left unmoved for most of the first period until a long-range effort from Ezequiel Fernández demanded his alert intervention. Giuliano Simeone of Argentina was also guilty—heading over from close range.
At the end of the first half, the atmosphere reached a boiling point after an altercation between Gerónimo Rulli of Argentina and Mateta. Better was Argentina in the second half, but France always looked in control. Another chance fell to Mateta to score in the 69th minute, and again he failed to convert.
Late in the game, Olise seemed to make it 2-0 to France, but VAR intervened due to a foul on Maghnes Akliouche in the build-up. Earlier, France’s resolute defending earned a fourth consecutive clean sheet to keep alive its hopes of becoming the third host nation to capture Olympic football gold since 1992. Argentina’s Olympic heartache continues—failing to win gold since 2008.
