Olympics: France beat Argentina in heated men’s soccer quarterfinal

An early goal was enough for France to beat Argentina 1-0 in Bordeaux and reach the men’s soccer semifinals at the Olympics on Friday, in a match where the Argentines were booed throughout by a hostile home crowd and fighting broke out between the players immediately after the final whistle.

There was shoving for a couple of minutes before the players were broken up. Some France players appeared to sprint down the tunnel moments later before coming back out a short time later to perform a lap of honor.

Jean-Philippe Mateta headed home in the fifth minute for coach Thierry Henry’s team, which will face Egypt in the last four.

Mateta was celebrating with captain Alexandre Lacazette when they noticed the postmatch skirmish. Lacazette rushed back to help break it up, as did Henry and counterpart Javier Mascherano, who appeared to block one of his own staff members from joining in.

“I went to shake the opposing coach’s hand and all of a sudden I saw a lot of things happening,” Henry told reporters. “I don’t like seeing this kind of thing. It wasn’t necessary.”

As France fans continued celebrating, stewards and a handful of riot police formed a ring around the pocket of Argentina fans inside the stadium.

Amid the skirmishes France midfielder Enzo Millot, who had earlier been substituted in stoppage time, was shown a red card that means he will miss the semifinal.

“We didn’t want to lose a player [to suspension] but it was pointless, he wasn’t even playing [at the final whistle],” Henry said. “I’m really not happy about that. We were all united, the only drawback is getting a red on the bench.”

Although primarily an under-23 competition, the game was a rematch French fans have been waiting for since Argentina’s dramatic penalty shootout win in the 2022 World Cup final. A racism scandal had heightened tensions ahead of the game after a video of Argentina players singing an offensive song about French players of African heritage as they celebrated their Copa América victory last month made the rounds.

Argentina’s national anthem was met with a chorus of jeers and whistles, and home fans booed Argentina’s players after the kickoff whenever they touched the ball.

It took France less than five minutes to ratchet up the atmosphere even further.

Mateta met Michael Olise‘s corner at the near post and sent his header past Argentina goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli to put the hosts in front.

Argentina recovered well from the early setback and should have gone into the half-time interval level. With the goal gaping, Giuliano Simeone somehow headed high over the bar after the ball dropped to him invitingly inside the 6-yard box.

Tensions briefly flared during first-half stoppage time when Mateta went to check on a teammate getting treatment inside Argentina’s penalty area and was pushed away. Lacazette smoothed things over quickly and Rulli put an arm around him.

There was a loud cheer when Mascherano was shown a yellow card and, as the second half ticked on, the jubilant home goaded their opponents by singing “Ils sont où les Argentins?” (Where are the Argentines?)

They weren’t on the scoresheet.

France held firm in the second half and thought they had a second goal when Olise found the net with a deflected strike in the 84th minute. Although that goal was ruled out after a VAR check for an earlier foul, France had enough to clinch the win.

France won their only Olympic title in 1984, the year they also won the European Championship.

Earlier in the day, Egypt defeated Paraguay 5-4 in a shootout to reach the last four. Ibrahim Adel converted the final penalty kick for Egypt after their goalkeeper, Hamza Alaa, saved from Marcelo Perez to seal the win after the teams had drawn 1-1 in regulation and failed to score in extra time.

Also on Friday, Spain eased past Japan 3-0 to set up a semifinal clash with Morocco, who thrashed the United States 4-0.

A Fermín López double and an Abel Ruiz effort in the 86th minute sealed the win for La Roja, who three years ago beat Japan in the semifinals at the delayed Tokyo Olympics.

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.