After their successful start against the United States, with a 3-0 victory at the Stade Vélodrome, Thierry Henry’s French team will continue with their second match in Group A of the men’s football tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, against Guinea, on Saturday evening (9 p.m., live on France 2 and Eurosport 1). In the event of a victory against Kaba Diawara’s Syli National, Les Bleus will qualify for the quarter-finals of the competition before their third group match against New Zealand, next Tuesday (again in Marseille).
In the event of first place, France will challenge the second in Group B and could come up against Morocco or Argentina. For a terrible revenge of the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar? After their incredible defeat against the Atlas Lions (2-1) last Wednesday, the Albiceleste led by Javier Mascherano launched their tournament by beating Iraq (3-1) on Saturday at the Groupama Stadium. Thiago Almada opened the scoring (14th), he who will join OL next January, before an Iraqi equalizer from Aymen Hussein before half-time (45th + 5).
A France-Spain in the semi-finals?
But the Argentines did not miss the opportunity to get back in front on the scoreboard in the second half, with a headed goal from Luciano Gondou (62nd), a striker for Argentinos Juniors who had just come on, and a third goal from Ezequiel Fernandez (85th). In addition to qualifying, Argentina will have to beat Ukraine in the last match in the hope of overtaking the Moroccans and avoiding Thierry Henry’s Les Bleus.
Also on Saturday afternoon, Spain, for its part, chained a second victory to qualify for the second round. La Roja beat the Dominican Republic (3-1), in Bordeaux, thanks to two players who were European champions with Spain two weeks ago, Fermin Lopez (24th) and Alex Baena (55th). Spain is well on its way to finishing top of its group and, if it survives its quarter-final, it could be the opponent of the French team (if the latter eliminates Morocco or Argentina).
