Host France, Morocco and Japan Begins Paris 2024 Men's Olympic Football Games In Style.

The Men's Olympic Football Tournament Paris 2024 is under way and host country France, Morocco, Iraq, Japan, New Zealand and Spain got their Paris 2024 Men’s Olympic Football tournament campaigns off to successful starts.

Following a first-half goalless draw in Marseille, a strong second half display saw host France cruised to a massive 3-0 win over the United States of America in Group A.

Alexandre Lacazette, Michael Olise and Loic Bade were on target.

France captain Lacazette rifled home a low drive from outside the area to give the hosts the lead just after the hour mark, and new Bayern Munich boy Olise soon doubled their advantage with a precise, curling effort in the 69th minute. Defender Bade then put the result beyond doubt with a thumping header in the 85th minute. 

In the other Group A game, New Zealand fought off a tough test from Guinea to secure a 2-1 victory in Nice. After missing a penalty in the 24th minute, Matthew Garbett redeemed himself a minute a later to fire New Zealand ahead. 

Guinea went right to work on finding a goal, and it came in the 72nd minute courtesy of Amadou Diawara, whose long-range effort curled through a sea of legs to make it 1-1. New Zealand responded and got the winner in the 76th minute, with Ben Waine supplying the decisive strike.

In Group B, Morocco overcame Argentina in a most dramatic drenched encounter in Saint-Etienne. With the Atlas Lions 2-1 ahead and the game heading into the 16th minute of stoppage time, Cristian Medina scored what he thought was a last-gasp leveller. The game was subsequently suspended, however. On players' return, Medina’s goal was ruled out after a VAR review for offside. Morocco eventually saw out a victory which was earned thanks to two Soufiane Rahimi goals. Giuliano Simeone was on target for Argentina.

In the other Group B match, Valentyn Rubchynskyi opened the scoring from a rebound for Ruslan Rotan's Ukraine's side in the 53rd minute.

The lead lasted merely minutes, as Aymen Hussein clinically converted a penalty he himself won in the 57th minute to draw Iraq level.

Iraq who were considered the underdogs, completed a surprising comeback to win the entertaining encounter 2-1 after Jasim paved his way inside and arrowing the ball into the bottom corner from just outside the 18-yard box in the 75th minute.

 

In Group C, Spain has to fight hard to secure victory over debutants Uzbekistan. Marc Pubill gave the Europeans a 28th-minute lead, only for Eldor Shomurodov to level matters with a penalty in first-half added time (45+3mins). 

Spain battled back to secure the win, while Sergio Gomez's spot-kick was saved by Abduvohid Nematov in the second half, he was on hand two minutes later to rattle home the winner in the 65th minute.

Elsewhere in the group, The points were shared between Egypt and Dominican Republic, as the two sides battled to a 0-0 draw in Nantes. 

Chances came for both teams throughout the affair, but Dominican Republic goalkeeper Xavier Valdez and Egyptian counterpart Hamza Alaa were not to be beaten on the day.

In Group D; Teamwork was the key for a ruthless Japan side the 5-0 trashing over 10-man Paraguay. Shunsuke Mito(18 and 63mins) and Shota Fujio (81 and 87mins) both bagged braces, with a deflected Rihito Yamamoto goal (69mins) in between to give Japan he emphatic victory. Wilder Viera was sent off for Paraguay for stamping on Yu Hirakawa’s ankle. 

Despite the lack of goals in the first 45 minutes, Mali and Israel played a 1-1 draw. 

A block from an Israel shot was turned into the net by Mali defender Hamidou Diallo for an own-goal in the 57th minute. 

Mali were unfazed and responded in kind minutes later (63mins), with a thumping header from Cheickna Doumbia earning them a point.

Result Matchday 1 #Paris2024 Men's Football:

Group A: 

🇫🇷 France 3-0 USA 🇺🇸

🇬🇳 Guinea 1-2 New Zealand 🇳🇿

GROUP B:

🇦🇷 Argentina 1-2 Morocco 🇲🇦

🇮🇶 Iraq 2-1 Ukraine 🇺🇦

GROUP C:

🇺🇿Uzbekistan 1-2 Spain 🇪🇸

🇪🇬 Egypt 0-0 Dominican Rep 🇩🇴

GROUP D:

🇯🇵 Japan 5-0 Paraguay 🇵🇾

🇲🇱 Mali 1-1 Israel 🇮🇱

Next matches in the Paris 2024 Men’s Olympic Football tournament comes up on Saturday 27 July;

15:00: Dominican Republic 🆚 Spain

15:00: Argentina 🆚 Iraq

17:00: Uzbekistan 🆚 Egypt

17:00: Ukraine 🆚 Morocco

19:00: New Zealand 🆚 USA

19:00: Israel 🆚 Paraguay

21:00: France 🆚 Guinea

21:00: Japan 🆚 Mali