PARIS-. This is just the quarter-finals of football in the Olympic Games. But it steals the show at the sporting event.
Argentina and the host France They will meet in this instance on Friday in Bordeaux, in a reunion that will be quicker than imagined between the finalists of the last World Cup and which for Les Bleus presents itself as an opportunity to settle pending scores, not all of them football-related.
Following the victory of the Albiceleste in the penalty shoot-out in the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar, midfielder Enzo Fernández added insult to injury for the defeated when, after winning the Copa América title in early July, a video of him with discriminatory chants mocking the African origin of many French people was released.
Fernández is not in Paris and has apologized. But the French have made practically every Argentine athlete who competes in the Olympic Games feel the brunt of the situation. The most mistreated were the Pumas of rugby 7.
“There will certainly be hostility. If there is, it will play its part, but as I said after what happened against Morocco: we focus on playing football, which is what we can control,” said Argentine coach Javier Mascherano. “And the rest is not up to us.”
The match was supposed to take place later, but Argentina finished second in their group due to the scandalous defeat by Morocco in their opening match. The Albiceleste – insulted during the singing of the national anthems – were down 2-1 and equalised at the end of extra time. Some Moroccan spectators invaded the field and others threw objects at the Argentine bench to express their anger.
Despite the incidents, the match resumed two hours later, with the stadium evacuated, and the referee disallowed the equalising goal due to an offside position noted by the VAR.
Argentina has lodged formal protests with the International Olympic Committee and FIFA, although the latter has nothing to do with Olympic football.
“To reach the final we have to beat anyone,” said forward Julián Álvarez, one of the over-23s who reinforces the Argentine squad and a survivor of the World Cup final.
From that bitter memory for the French, the current captain Nicolás Otamendi, the goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli and the forward Thiago Almada also play in Mascherano’s team.
“France generates the same feeling for me as if we had drawn any other team. I know there is a rivalry between us because of the last World Cup and what is happening. Our objective is clear,” Otamendi stressed.
France, led by Thierry Henry, closed the first round with a perfect score and no goals conceded.
But meeting the South Americans in the quarter-finals entails a greater risk.
“We’ll have to stay focused and do what we have to do,” Henry said.
Source: AP