The Olympic men’s soccer final is now set for Friday with host nation France and Spain booking their places in the Paris Games final by coming from one goal down to win. La Roja fought back to edge past Morocco 2-1 in Marseille while Les Bleus also trailed to Egypt before coming out on top 3-1 after extra time. The Spanish now have the chance to add OIympic gold to their UEFA Euro 2024 and UEFA under-19 Euro successes already this summer. The Atlas Lions and the Pharaohs can still take home bronze in the game for third place but neither could match Spain’s soccer renaissance nor the strength of the home French support as a date in the capital hones into view.
Olympic semifinal scores
Morocco 1, Spain 2
France 3, Egypt 1 (after extra time)
France 3, Egypt 1 (after extra time)
The home nation had to do what they had not been made to do all tournament which is come from behind to win after Egypt took the lead through Mahmoud Saber after 62 minutes in Lyon. Thankfully for Thierry Henry, Jean-Philippe Mateta has come into form in the knockout phase and notched his third Olympic goal after 83 minutes from another Michael Olise assist — his fourth of the tournment. A late France penalty shout was ruled out thanks to a lengthy VAR check but Les Bleus’ task was made easier minutes into extra time when the Egyptians had Omar Fayed sent off for second booking at Groupama Stadium. Mateta was the hero again as he put the French 2-1 up after Olise’s ball in found its way to the Crystal Palace man for his fourth goal from five outings via Killiann Sildillia. It was not even a direct assist despite the new Bayern Munich man being the architect once again, but Olise made it six goal involvements so far with his second goal of the Paris Games late on to rubber stamp the hosts’ Parc des Princes final berth.
Morocco 1, Spain 2: La Roja sure of a medal
What a stunning summer of 2024 this is turning out to be for Spanish soccer. After UEFA Euro 2024 and the UEFA under-19 Euro, Spain are now into an Olympic final with only France or Egypt standing between them and a gold medal. It did not look like it would be the case at one point with Morocco going 1-0 up after 37 minutes through Soufiane Rahimi’s penalty for his sixth goal of the tournament meaning that he has scored at least once in every single game so far in France. The Atlas Lions’ Paris Games is not over yet and the 28-year-old could add to his tally in the bronze medal game but it will have been crushing for the Moroccans to see Spain recover in the second half. First of all, Fermin Lopez levelled things up after 66 minutes before turning provider for substitute Juanlu Sanchez to score the winning goal five minutes from time. Despite 10 minutes of added time at Stade Velodrome, Tarik Sektioui’s men fell agonizingly short when a potential final against France in Paris had beckoned.
KVSP