Players Fight After France Beats Argentina 1-0 to Reach Men's Soccer Semifinals

An early goal was enough for France to beat Argentina 1-0 and reach the men’s soccer semifinals at the Paris Olympics on Friday, in a match where the Argentines were booed throughout by a hostile home crowd.

France won its only Olympic title in 1984, the year it also won the European Championship.

A racism scandal has heightened tensions, following a video of Argentina players singing an offensive song about French players of African heritage as they celebrated their Copa America victory last month.

Earlier Friday, Argentina’s handball team was jeered as it entered the South Paris Arena arena, but the booing subsided quickly at the venue.

Last week, Argentina’s men’s rugby sevens players were raucously and constantly booed by a Stade de France crowd of 69,000 during a quarterfinal against the home team.

Despite the off-field tensions leading into this soccer quarterfinal, security measures were not increased and the local police prefecture said security forces stuck to the initial plan.

Over 400 police and gendarmerie officers were deployed on for the match, in addition to 100 military personnel, and security forces used drones to help make the event safe.

The atmosphere outside the stadium was anything but tense, however. Fans of both nations mingled with each other without any signs of hostility, some with Argentina flags or jerseys with soccer superstar Lionel Messi's name on the back.

The match itself was a rematch French fans have been waiting for since Argentina’s dramatic penalty shootout win in the 2022 World Cup final. But because it’s primarily an Under-23 tournament, superstars like Messi and Kylian Mbappé were not playing.

France fans made up most of the 42,000 crowd. Bordeaux is a six-time French champion that has now been relegated two divisions to the fourth-tier amateur league by France’s soccer finance watchdog, DNCG, after filing for bankruptcy.

This is where the Olympics end for the United States men's soccer team.

Routed 4-0 by Morocco in the quarterfinals on Friday, a run that had seen the U.S. reach the knockouts for the first time since Sydney 2000 was ended in brutal fashion.

“To go down in the nature that we did was tough, pretty frustrating,” defender Walker Zimmerman said. “It’s sad because I think it’s a group that has a lot of belief in each other and a lot of character and I don’t think it showed through and that’s what’s hard is knowing how much everyone did care, had each other’s back.”

Soufiane Rahimi, Ilias Akhomach, Achraf Hakimi and Mehdi Maouhoub scored the goals at Parc des Princes that ended U.S. hopes of a medal at the Paris Games and set Morocco up for a semifinal against Spain, which beat Japan 3-0.

The U.S. — playing at the Olympics for the first time since Beijing 2008 — was outclassed by an impressive Morocco team that had already beaten Argentina in the group stage.

Even in defeat, coach Marko Mitrovic described the experience as “massive” for his young team.

“We know that the World Cup is the highest tournament. The Olympic Games are the biggest event that humanity created and once you are in the Olympic Games you are in a big spotlight,” he said. "For them to feel that, to live that moment — I think before this tournament, there was uncertainty for them, what that looks like.

“Now, after this, I feel that they are going to be much more ready. Saying that, they were ready for this tournament as well.”

Morocco fans largely dominated the crowd in Paris and they can look forward to Monday's semifinal in Marseille.

It's the first time Morocco has advanced to the Olympic semifinals — after becoming the first African nation to reach the last four of the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

“It’s a historic day for all of us. I’m very happy about that. We’re very happy and proud,” said Hakimi, Morocco's captain. “I have one goal here, which is to win the medal."

In front of a packed crowd at the home of Paris Saint-Germain, Morocco dominated the chances in the first half, but needed a 29th-minute penalty to find a breakthrough after Nathan Harriel fouled Rahimi in the box.

Despite protests from the American players, referee Yael Falcón Pérez pointed to the spot and the tournament's top scorer Rahimi fired low to collect his fifth goal of the Games.

Miles Robinson had a golden chance to level the game in the 59th when collecting a knockdown from about six yards out, but shot wide.

That miss proved even more costly when Morocco extended its lead four minutes later through Akhomach, who slotted past Patrick Schulte from close range after Abde Ezzalzouli’s cross.

Hakimi, who plays his club soccer for PSG, added a third in the 70th — carrying the ball to the edge of the box before firing into the bottom right hand corner.

Morocco made it 4-0 in the first minute of stoppage time when Harriel handled in the box and, after a VAR review, a second penalty was awarded and Maouhoub converted.

“I wish we would play every four years in the quarterfinal of the Olympics because then we will have more chances to progress and win medals and raid the world for the future,” Mitrovic said. “Through these last 10 months we played a lot of games against elite players and elite teams and for all of us, it’s experience of what it takes to play on that level, what it takes to be competitive on that level and what it takes to win on that level.”

Goalkeeper Hamza Alaa saved a penalty by Marcelo Perez and Egypt defeated Paraguay 5-4 in a shootout to reach the semifinals of the men's soccer tournament at the Paris Olympics on Friday.

Ibrahim Adel converted the final penalty kick to seal the win for Egypt after the teams had drawn 1-1 in regulation and failed to score in extra time.

Fermin Lopez scored a goal in each half and Spain beat Japan 3-0 to reach the semifinals.

Abel Ruiz sealed the win late for Spain, the silver medalist three years ago in Toyko.

Spain arrived as one of the favorites but there were doubts surrounding the squad after it failed to win its group following a loss to Egypt. Japan, meanwhile, finished at the top of its group after three straight victories.

Lopez opened the scoring with a low left-footed shot from outside the area in the 11th minute, then used his right foot to add to the lead in the 73rd. Ruiz capped the victory from inside the area after a corner kick in the 86th.

Japan had a first-half goal disallowed for offside on a very tight call determined by video review.