France Beat Egypt to Reach Olympics Men’s Football Final: Facing Spain

The home team's Jean-Philippe Mateta scored twice. After a 3-1 come-from-behind victory against Egypt in extra time on Monday, France will face Spain in the Olympic men's football final after the Spanish team defeated Morocco 2-1.

Thierry Henry's France were doomed to lose in their semi-final match in Lyon when Egypt's Mahmoud Saber scored an ill-advised goal just after the hour.

After Egypt's Omar Fayed was sent off, Mateta of Crystal Palace leveled the score late in regulation and forced the game into overtime, where he put France ahead with a header.

France will meet Spain at Paris's Parc des Princes on Friday to pursue a second Olympic men's football gold medal, their first since 1984, after Michael Olise clinched the victory in 108 minutes.

When France starts winning medals everywhere, it makes you think, "It's on us to not let everyone down," France coach Henry remarked.

At least that's out of the way; no one wants to be on the losing team. I don't want to wake up from this dream, but we'll find out what color we receive soon.

In the second half, France's Loic Bade struck the crossbar, and then, against the odds, Egypt's Saber scored to put them ahead on 62 minutes.

The home team then made a mad dash for an equalizer, sending two shots narrowly wide: captain Alexandre Lacazette's header went off the post, and Bade nodded the rebound off the bar.

Olise, a new player for Bayern Munich, equalized in the 83rd minute with a driving run into the center of the field and a pass to Mateta for the finish.

After a lengthy video assistant referee review, France's penalty claim was rejected after Fayed's handblock on a Bade header, preventing the game from going into extra time.

With Fayed already sent off for appealing the penalty decision and then seeing yellow for cutting down Desire Doue, Egypt was down to ten men in the tenth minute of extra time.
France took the lead in the 99th minute thanks to a goal by Mateta, who had already scored four goals for the tournament after Kiliann Sildillia headed Olise's throwback across the goal.

Bronze Medal Match Between Egypt and Morocco

After a clearing hit Doue and dropped into Olise's path, the great Olise scored the third goal early in the second half of extra time, and France celebrated loudly at full-time.

As a result of a comeback, Spain defeated Morocco in the first semi-final match in Marseille, thanks to a goal from substitute Juanlu Sanchez.

Morocco took the lead in the first half thanks to a penalty kick by top scorer Soufiane Rahimi. Rahimi scored six goals at the Olympics, including four from the penalty spot.

The huge Moroccan contingent at the Stade Velodrome went into a frenzy, but Spain maintained their composure and equalized via their superstar player in the 66th minute.

In the 66th minute, as the ball got free in the area, Fermin Lopez, who had scored twice in the Olympic quarterfinal against Japan and was a part of Spain's winning Euro 2024 team, swooped in and shot low into the goal to tie the score.

In the 85th minute, with extra time looking certain, Spain took the lead when Lopez sent Sanchez racing into the penalty area, and Sanchez blasted a low effort into the far corner to win it.

Morocco will travel to Nantes next Thursday to play in a bronze medal match against their North African rivals, Egypt.

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