France have reached the Olympics football tournament knockout stage for the first time in 30 years. In the group stage they consequently beat the United States (3:0), Guinea (1:0) and New Zealand (3:0). Besides France, only Japan managed to get 9 points in the group stage. Both teams haven’t conceded a goal yet. The last Olympics saw France failing to reach the knockout stage ending the group stage with 2 defeats and 1 win.
Argentina secured their knockout stage spot only in the last round of the group stage. They beat Ukraine (2:0). In the first two games Argentina were defeated by Morocco (1:2) and beat Iraq (3:1). Argentina failed to reach the knockout stage in the last two editions of the Olympics. The last time they advanced to the quarter-finals was in 2008. Argentina reached the final and won the gold medals back then.
Both sides deserve to reach the final. France have won all their games in this tournament, without conceding a goal. All key players had some time to get some rest and even reserve players easily beat New Zealand in the third round (3:0). Argentina had to use all their key players to win the last group stage game.
I believe that the second half will be more active and interesting than the first one. Both sides will be careful initially. In the second half, the Argentine leaders should be more exhausted and France will use this opportunity. France have scored 6 out of their 7 goals in the current tournament in the second half.
|
Thierry Henry
|
coach | ||
| Player | Matches | Goals | |
|
In squad
|
|||
Guillaume Restes
|
gk. | 2 | 0 |
Obed Nkambadio
|
gk. | 1 | 0 |
Théo De Percin
|
gk. | 0 | 0 |
Castello Junior Lukeba
|
df. | 3 | 0 |
Loïc Badé
|
df. | 3 | 1 |
Adrien Truffert
|
df. | 2 | 0 |
Kiliann Sildillia
|
df. | 2 | 1 |
Bradley Locko
|
df. | 1 | 0 |
Chrislain Matsima
|
df. | 1 | 0 |
Désiré Nonka-Maho Doué
|
mf. | 3 | 1 |
Joris Chotard
|
mf. | 3 | 0 |
Maghnes Akliouche
|
mf. | 3 | 0 |
Enzo Camille Alain Millot
|
mf. | 2 | 0 |
|
Manu Koné
|
mf. | 2 | 0 |
|
Soungoutou Magassa
|
mf. | 2 | 0 |
Andy Diouf
|
mf. | 1 | 0 |
Johann Lepenant
|
mf. | 1 | 0 |
Mathis Rayan Cherki
|
mf. | 1 | 0 |
Lesley Ugochukwu
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Arnaud Kalimuendo
|
fw. | 3 | 1 |
Jean-Philippe Mateta
|
fw. | 3 | 1 |
Michael Akpovie Olise
|
fw. | 3 | 1 |
|
Alexandre Lacazette
|
fw. | 2 | 1 |
|
Javier Mascherano
|
coach | ||
| Player | Matches | Goals | |
|
In squad
|
|||
Gerónimo Rulli
|
gk. | 3 | -3 |
Fabricio Iacovich
|
gk. | 0 | 0 |
Leandro Brey
|
gk. | 0 | 0 |
Bruno Amione
|
df. | 3 | 0 |
Julio Soler
|
df. | 3 | 0 |
Marco Di Césare
|
df. | 3 | 0 |
Nicolás Otamendi
|
df. | 3 | 0 |
Gonzalo Luján
|
df. | 2 | 0 |
Joaquín García
|
df. | 2 | 0 |
|
Aarón Quirós
|
df. | 0 | 0 |
|
Cristian Medina
|
mf. | 3 | 0 |
Ezequiel Fernández
|
mf. | 3 | 1 |
|
Kevin Zenón
|
mf. | 3 | 0 |
Santiago Hezze
|
mf. | 3 | 0 |
Thiago Almada
|
mf. | 3 | 2 |
Claudio Echeverri
|
mf. | 2 | 1 |
Federico Redondo
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
|
Juan Ignacio Nardoni
|
mf. | 0 | 0 |
Giuliano Simeone Baldini
|
fw. | 3 | 1 |
|
Julián Alvarez
|
fw. | 3 | 0 |
Lucas Ezequiel Beltrán
|
fw. | 3 | 0 |
Luciano Gondou
|
fw. | 3 | 1 |
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Olympic Football
