🏅 Unlucky Guinea lose to France, USA win big; Argentina and Spain win | OneFootball

The men’s Olympic football gave us more games on Saturday as Argentina, Spain, USA and France were all in action.

Here’s how they got on.

Unlucky Guinea narrowly beaten by France

Scorers: Sildillia 75′

France managed to sneak a narrow 1-0 victory against a resolute Guinea side.

Guinea had come to play in this game, and in the 9th minute, Amadou Diawara forced a save from Guillaume Restes.

Then, it was France’s turn to go close to scoring. Guinea goalkeeper Issiaga Sylla extended his arm to just about deny John-Phillipe Mateta from scoring.

Just before half-time, Guinea had two goals ruled out for offside, the first after a lengthy VAR check that denied Naby Keïta, and the second a header from Abdoulaye Touré that was also chalked off.

With 15 minutes to go, France finally found the breakthrough as new Bayern man Michael Olise put in a sublime cross from the right and Kiliann Sildillia connected with a glancing header.

That win means that France have now qualified for the quarter-finals.

USA rack up big win over New Zealand

Scorers: Mihailović 8′ (pen), Zimmerman 12′, Busio 30′, Aaronson 58′; Randall 78′

USA fans had a big win to celebrate after a 4-1 win over New Zealand.

After being well beaten by France in the opening game, the USA got off to a great start in their second game in the tournament.

When Nathan Harriel was brought down clumsily in the box by Matthew Garbett, the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, with the penalty converted by Đorđe Mihailović.

Just four minutes later and Marko Mitrović’s side had doubled their advantage, as Walker Zimmerman bundled a scruffy effort over the line from a free-kick.

The third was netted by Gianluca Busio, after some great work by John Tolkin led to a series of pinball-like shots in the box.

Into the second half and the match dropped in tempo for a while, until Paxten Aaronson was able to fire home from inside the box, assisted by some excellent wing play from Griffin Yow.

As the US pushed on, New Zealand were able to bag a goal of their own. A nice passing move found Jesse Randall, who turned and finished high into the net.

USA midfielder Jack McGlynn had been unlucky not to score with multiple chances through the match, and rattled the woodwork in the final seconds of the game.

Argentina do enough

Scorers: Almada 14′, Gondou 62′, Fernandez 85′; Hussein 45+4′

Argentina eventually showed their class as they beat Iraq 3-1 to claim their first win of the 2024 Olympics.

Javier Mascherano’s side returned to action on Saturday hoping for something slightly less controversial than their remarkable defeat to Morocco on Wednesday.

In that match, the North African side eventually ran out 2-1 winners after the game had gone on for over four hours.

Here though, things looked a little easier for Mascherano’s men as they took the lead inside 15 minutes thanks to a brilliant volley from Thiago Almada.

Julian Alvarez had two great chances to double the Argentine’s lead before the break but the Manchester City man fired wide of the far post on both occasions.

And the South Americans would pay for that profligacy as on the stroke of half time Aymen Hussein got in front of his marker and headed in a glorious equaliser.

On the hour mark however, Argentina retook their lead as Luciano Gondou came off the bench and headed home with his very first touch.

And the Albiceleste then confirmed the win with five minutes to go as Ezequiel Fernandez completed a sensational team move by firing into the top corner from 20 yards out.

La Roja into the last eight

Scorers: Montes de Oca 34′; Fermin Lopez 24′, Baena 54′, Gutierrez 73′

Spain became the first side to qualify for the quarter-finals at Paris 2024 as they beat 10-man Dominican Republic 3-1.

The Europeans were looking for the three that would see them through to the last eight having beaten Uzbekistan in their opening encounter.

And it took La Roja just 24 minutes to open the scoring as Fermin Lopez capitalised on some wayward goalkeeping to steal the ball and tap into a virtually empty net.

Completely against the run of play however, Dominican Republic struck back as Angel Montes de Oca headed in from a corner.

The Central American side made things difficult for themselves in added time though, as Edson Azcona was given a straight red card after a petulant kick at Pau Cubarsí

Into the second half and Spain made their man advantage count as Alex Baena’s deflected effort wrong-footed the goalkeeper and hit the back of the net.

The three points were then confirmed with 15 minutes remaining as Miguel Gutierrez found space at the back post and tapped in unchallenged.

Sunday sees the women’s competition return with USA facing Germany and Brazil taking on Japan.