Foot & Soccer Soccer Match Reports, Football News
Arguably the two best soccer teams in the Paris Olympics 2024, Spain and France, squared off against Morocco and Egypt, respectively, in the semi-finals on Monday, August 5. Neither team had it easy, but through grit, quality, and bravado, the Spaniards and French prevailed in the final four, qualifying for Friday evening’s all-important Gold medal final. Losers Morocco and Egypt will take part in the Bronze medal match on Thursday.
Fermin Lopez Shines As Spain Beats Morocco
It was a spirited start from both sides at the Orange Velodrome in Marseille, with neither hesitating to venture into the dangerous areas. In the 21st minute, Barcelona ace Fermin Lopez had a go at the Moroccan goal from range. The ball looked destined to find the bottom-right corner but goalkeeper Arnau Tenas managed to parry it behind for a corner. La Roja could not trouble the goalkeeper from the set-piece, as Morocco had regrouped and plugged the gaps.
In the 33rd minute, luck broke Morocco’s way, as Pablo Barrios accidentally caught Amir Richardson inside the area. The referee did not award a penalty right away, but a VAR-advised pitchside review compelled him to change his mind. Kick-taker Soufiane Rahimi sent Munir the wrong way before slotting the ball into the right side of the goal. In the seventh minute of first-half injury time, Spain midfielder Alex Baena came agonizingly close to scoring the equalizer, with his outside-the-box effort clipping the outside of the right post before going out of play.
Spain upped the ante in the second half and got their equalizer through Lopez in the 65th minute. Adrian Bernabe did ever so well to penetrate the box under pressure from Moroccan defenders, but he could not keep possession. Luckily for Spain, the loose ball fell to Lopez, who opened up a bit of room before finding the netting with a left-footed strike. Twenty minutes later, La Roja scored the winner, thanks to a brilliant set-piece routine.
Lopez got on the ball…
Source link : https://sportslens.com/news/paris-olympics-2024-spain-france-final/
Author : Sushan Chakraborty
Publish date : 2024-08-06 06:15:35
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
