Michael Olise scored and also provided an assist as France came from a goal down to beat Egypt 3-1 after extra-time to reach the men’s final of the Paris Olympics on Monday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta bagged two goals as France reached a first Olympic men’s football final since Los Angeles 1984.
While Egypt will battle fellow North African side Morocco in the bronze medal match, France will take on Spain in the final.
The last time an African team won a medal in the Olympic men’s football event was Nigeria’s U-23 team, bronze, at the Rio 2016 games.
The match began with both teams showing cautious play. Egypt had a golden opportunity in the second minute when Ibrahim Adel’s volley narrowly missed the post.
Throughout the first half, both sides traded chances, with Egypt’s goalkeeper Hamza Alaa making crucial saves to keep the game scoreless.
Also Read: Paris 2024 Olympics Women’s Basketball: D’Tigress Move Up To 8th Position In Latest FIBA Ranking
France came close in the 41st minute, but the post denied Loïc Badé’s header, before the referee sounded the end of the first half.
The second half saw Egypt take a surprising lead. In the 62nd minute, Mahmoud Saber intercepted the ball in the box and fired into the roof of the net, putting the Young Pharaohs ahead 1-0.
France, however, pressed hard for an equalizer, and Jean-Philippe Mateta found the back of the net in the 83rd minute, thanks to an assist from Olise.
Regulation time ended with the score tied at 1-1, leading to a tense extra time. Early in extra time, Omar Fayed received a red card for a second bookable offense, leaving Egypt to battle with ten men.
France capitalized on this advantage, with Mateta scoring his second goal in the 99th minute, heading home from close range to put France ahead 2-1.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Egypt continued to fight. However, in the 108th minute, Olise sealed the victory for France with a well-placed shot.
12 Comments
Olise balling out in Paris.
Together with Mateta, they both left Egypt’s gold medal dream in a heap of ruins. The Crystal Palace connection is working wonders for France. Surely, Olise has played himself into the main French squad. If Deschamps continue to mumu, Nigeria and Algeria will be on red alert. NFF ONIGBESE, wake up.
What a player.
Painful defeats for Egypt and Morocco. Both scored first, and both capitulated to late goals. Ouch.
Now they have to shake it off and play each other for the bronze.
Given the intense football rivalry between North African nations, rest assured that the bronze medal match is going to be war!
Who will be the first North African and indeed Arab nation to win an Olympic soccer medal? Egypt or Morocco? Players from both teams will be ready to die on the pitch. Fantastic entertainment for neutrals is in the offing.
Pompei pls Stop Oga stop! Immediately you and your band of @Dr Drey dem will immediately remind everyone when he was at palace that Olise does not want Nigeria this Olise does not want Nigeria that.. as if because a player who is at Palace and was not included in Euro’s cannot change his mind i mean as if you people do not know Gasau normally listens to majority public opinion before making a decision yes all these bad calls Gasau has been making it is a direct reflection of what clueless Nigerians clamour for. Yes. Finidi, local players its all what Nigerians were asking for. Now he is running the show just after Signing for Bayern and will walk into Frances squad that just underperformed at Euro’s in a heartbeat. This is when you want Nigeria to do what approach a player who is definitely walking into France squad?. Well Oga it is officially too late if it wasn’t then ut definitely is now. Olise is walking into France squad the opportunity to have him is Gone ByE Bye!!!!!!!!…if Dechamps continues to mumu lol the chance is gone he can never overlook him now. He never was a mumu he just had players who had a bigger rep and were in bigger clubs and doing well our Opp was before Olise reached this height which you people as I did should have known he would it was pretty much inevitable but no Your band of We have no chance of getting Olise deterred Gasau. Well there you have it Una well done ooo
It was Gernot Rohr who let Eze and Olise slip through our fingers. I remember Oliseh was at Reading or so doing well. No attention on him… Rohr invited him to his standby squad. That man killed our chances with enterprising young talents we would have had… Because of the likes of Samuel Kalu and other junk players who only come to play one-trick pony football… If he has invited Eze and Olise and capped them same time we won’t be here rueing our loss.
JimmyBall, put yourself in Rohr’s shoes.
Would you risk your job and play talented but untested, unproven youngsters in competitive games?
At that time, Olise was still a teenager. Yes, teens can play, no doubt, but Rohr conservatively chose not to take risks.
Note that we did extend multiple invitations to these lads over the years. Olise has been on our radar since his Reading days. If our administrative house was in order, we would have stood a better chance of getting him.
Again, even if Rohr had cold feet, NFF could have stepped in and moved things along. But they didn’t do enough!
My band of we have no chance of getting Olise? Are you well at all?
So it is my band that deterred Gusau from doing his job?
Hahaha, Iwunze, does what you just said make any sense even to you?
So it is me that prevented us from getting Saka and Eze too. My band prevented us from getting them.
Thank you for including me among the clueless Nigerians. You that have clue in abundance, congrats. Clap for yourself.
Really we shouldn’t get ourselves bothered about players who don’t want to commit to Nigeria. Of what use is their playing for Nigeria when their hearts are not with us.
Let’s forget about these eze oliseh and saka thing and let us focus on what we have already.
Christian Ministries, the other side of the coin is the side I see like an elephant in a small room.
If you’re considering employment opportunities, would you commit to a company that does not pay your salary? Or that does not cater to your professional and personal needs?
When we expect these lads to commit to Nigeria, what exactly are they committing to?
Nonpayment of bonuses? A substandard coach who is sharing salary with NFF officials? Poor player welfare? Substandard training facilities? Poor planning and logistics? Naive, even awful decision making by officials? If these lads were your son or brother, would you blame them for hesitating to chose us?
I keep saying it. If NFF clean up their act and start doing the right things, we become more attractive to these lads. Rohr is not deserving of blame here. The blame for this rests squarely on the incompetent shoulders of the NFF.
Look at Morocco. Semifinalists at both the world cup and Olympics. The only star they have is Hakimi, they’re just a bunch of determined, hungry young soldiers LED BY COMPETENT, AMBITIOUS ADMINISTRATORS. Their administrators are the star of the show.
Their administrators have made all the difference. Unlike ours that are a nuisance and hindrance, they actively assist their players and propel them forward to success.
Ultimately, whether these guys will chose Nigeria or not depends on a lot of factors. Sometimes, players just chose to play for the land of their birth, the land they grew up in. E.g. Zidane could have played for Algeria, but he chose France.
We are not saying it is a do or die affair to get these players. What we are insisting on is that NFF should stop giving these players reason to hesitate. It is up to the NFF to to make Nigeria a more attractive option for these lads.
We have the option of another lad who is a direct replacement for Olise. I’m talking about Noni Madueke. He doesn’t have the balling brain of Olise, but he’s just as skillful, and he has more pace. With his exclusion from the England squad to the Euros, this is a great time to poach this guy.
Dominic Solanke is another fantastic option at this time. A genuine hitman who can be relied on for goals. We also have Elijah Adebayo, that one has long declared his wish to play for Nigeria. He is ready to play, bonus or no bonus.
What is NFF doing about these and other lads out there?
@pompei everybody can not play for nigeria at same time. Madueke is not better than chukwueze and the likes of lookman and ejuke. as for solanke his adition will make sense because we cant rely on osimen alone. We need to bring in new players to super eagles but not players like madueke. Here are the players for se for now. Ogbu. Osho. Nda. Orban. Solanke. As for the mildfield onyedika. Onyeka. Yussuf. Iwobi. Bashiru. Iwobi. Etebo are there. That means we dont have problem in the mildfield. Here are the players we no longer want in the team for now. Sadiq. Musa. Moffi. Onuachu. Aribo. Dessers. Collins. Zaidu. Omeruo. Balogun. Uzoho. The new coach should move Bassy to the left.
MY TEAM FOR AFCON QUALIFIERS. Okoye. Nwabali. Olorunleke. DEF R/B Ebuehi Osaye. L/B Bassy. Onyemechi. C/B Ekong. Osho. Ogbu. Ndah. MILD D/M Ndidi. Yusuf. C/M Onyedika.Onyeka.A/M Iwobi. Bashiru. L/W Lookman. Ejuke. R/W Chukwueze. F/W Osimehn. Awoniyi. Iheanacho. With good coach and good formation this team will destroy our 0penents and qualify for afcon and W/Cup.
You left out Ola Aina and Boniface?
As for Iheanacho, hopefully he gets back to his best at Sevilla. Perhaps our best finisher at the moment. But not consistent enough form and fitness wise.
Stan, you just involuntarily mentioned the wingers I would like to have in the squad, namely, Lookman, Ejuke, MADUEKE and Chuks.
Add Osimhen, Solanke, Adebayo and Boniface, attack don set.
That’s a good group of forwards to select from.
As for Orban, I don’t know what his current situation is. But we need to keep tabs on him as well. If fit and in form, we need him.
Squad depth is important. Nothing wrong with having many quality options.