MARSEILLE, France — Young Pharaohs goalkeeper Hamza Alaa saved a penalty by Marcelo Perez as Egypt defeated Paraguay 5-4 in a shootout to reach the men’s soccer semi-finals at the Paris Olympics.
The Young Pharaohs will face France in the last four on Monday at 10:00 pm Cairo Local Time.
Hosts France reached the semi-finals for the first time in 40 years with a 1-0 win over Argentina thanks to Jean-Philippe Mateta’s first-half goal in a grudge match in Bordeaux.
This is Egypt’s third appearance in the Olympic semi-finals, following their previous reaches in the 1928 Amsterdam Games and the 1964 Tokyo Games.
Ibrahim Adel converted the final penalty kick to seal the win for Egypt after the teams had drawn 1-1 in regulation and failed to score in extra time.
The other semi-final will be between Spain and Morocco also on Monday at 7:00 pm. The Spaniards defeated Japan, while Morocco got past the United States.
Paraguay took the lead in regulation with a goal by Diego Gomez in a breakaway in the 71st minute, but Egypt sent the game into extra time with Adel’s header in the 88th.
Paraguay was runner-up to Argentina in 2004 in Athens but had not played in the last four Olympic Games. Egypt’s best result was fourth in 1964 in Tokyo.
An early goal was enough for France to beat Argentina 1-0 and reach the semi-finals, in a match where fighting broke out between the players immediately after the final whistle.
Thierry Henry’s France grabbed an early lead as they sought revenge in a repeat of the last World Cup final in which Argentina beat France.
France won its only Olympic title in 1984, the year it also won the European Championship.
Henry said midfielder Enzo Millot, who had been substituted late on, was shown a red card after the final whistle.
“He wasn’t on the pitch. Maybe you get sent off because you get a second yellow card to stop someone running through on goal, not when you are on the bench. I am really not happy about that,” Henry told broadcaster France 3.
Giuliano Simeone and Julian Alvarez missed chances for Javier Mascherano’s Argentina, and the exit of the two-time gold medallists means the winner of men’s football gold will not come from Latin America for the first time since Cameroon triumphed in Sydney in 2000.
France could have won by a wider margin, but Olise had a late second goal disallowed for a foul in the build-up.
Spain and Morocco march on
A brilliant brace by Barcelona’s Fermin Lopez helped fire Spain to a 3-0 win over Japan in Lyon.
Lopez, a member of Spain’s triumphant Euro 2024 squad, blasted in the opener from range in the 11th minute.
The Barcelona midfielder struck again on 73 minutes with another goal of the highest quality as he controlled a Sergio Gomez corner before volleying in from the edge of the box.
Captain Abel Ruiz wrapped up the win for Spain, Olympic champions in 1992 and silver medallists three years ago in Tokyo.
Spain goes through to a last-four clash in Marseille with Morocco, who outclassed the United States, winning 4-0 in Paris.
Soufiane Rahimi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after he was fouled in the box just before the half-hour mark.
That was a fifth goal in four games for the tournament’s top scorer.
Morocco dominated the US to prevail in their first-ever Olympic knockout match.
Backed by their passionate supporters who packed the PSG stadium, Morocco grabbed the lead in the 29th minute when Soufiane Rahimi earned them a penalty and converted for his fifth goal of the tournament.
Ilias Akhomach doubled the advantage with a tap-in after a brilliant team move before Hakimi got on the scoresheet after a fine solo run to make it 3-0 20 minutes from time.
“I felt like I was playing at home in this stadium where I play for my club, but also because our fans were very loud and were here in big numbers,” 25-year-old defender Hakimi told reporters.
“Fans have been following us all tournament, I hope they can follow us all the way to the final. We want to make them proud.”
Substitute Mehdi Maouhoub completed the rout with another penalty in stoppage time following a VAR review for a handball.
The US, playing in their first Olympic quarter-final for 24 years, were better for a short spell after the break but had only one goal attempt in the match.
“We have always aimed for gold here,” forward Akhomach said. “We are going to leave everything on the pitch to achieve that.”
Discussion about this post