Paris 2024 Olympic Football: France Struggles To Beat Egypt For Tickets To The Final

France after Spain to the final of the 2024 Paris Olympics (Instagram/@equipedefrance).

JAKARTA - Host France holds tickets to the final of Paris 2024 Olympics after beating Egypt 3-1 in the semifinals at Stade de Lyon, Tuesday, August 6, 2024, early morning WIB.

France started the first half with more under Egyptian pressure.

Egypt took more possession of the ball and fired shots. Several times they had golden opportunities that threatened the French goal.

However, the opener that was awaited never came. The first half closed without a goal.

Entering the second half, France's performance is better. Thierry Henry's team can reduce the threat of Egypt and be more aggressive and neat in launching attacks.

In the end, they almost opened the scoring in the 61st minute. Alexandre Lacazette volleyed in a cross from the right.

Unfortunately, the shot is still wide. The opportunity was wasted by Lacazette, who actually had a free standing and had a lot of room to control first.

After Lacazette's chances, France was surprised by Egypt's goal one minute later.

Mahmoud Saber fired a powerful shot from outside the box that Guilleume Restes failed to stop.

France panicked. Egypt's goal destroyed their attacking momentum.

Slowly, Les Bleus tried to restore momentum. They have more possession of the ball to find an equalizer.

Until the 80th minute, the score did not change. Egypt's victory was in sight.

France then had a chance in the 82nd minute with a free kick from 35 meters away. Joris Chotard prefers to send a pass that can be swept away by the Egyptian defense.

The wild ball is again controlled by Les Bleus. Michael Olise cleverly saw Jean-Philippe Mateta free.

He released a pass to Mateta who was just beating goalkeeper Hamza Alaa. Mateta did not waste that opportunity to make it 1-1.

His hard shot from close range slid heavily into the top left side of the Alaa goal.

Drama terjadi pada injury time yang berlangsung 10 menit. Ada potensi hukuman penalti buat Mesir usai Omar Fayed diduga melakukan handball.

The debate occurred. Fayed tried to explain there was an element of intent, while the French player insisted on demanding that the referee give a penalty.

As a result, the referee conducted a VAR review. In this situation, the tension heats up.

Fayed and Egyptian coach Roger Micale got a yellow card for blocking referees from checking VAR monitors.

The referee finally confirmed there was no handball. He said Loic Bade pushed Fayed which caused the defender's arm to accidentally stretch.

Normal time also ended with a score of 1-1. The match must continue into extra time.

It was during this round that France went all out. Henry's troops did not breathe Egypt's defense.

Les Bleus got more and more in the wind after Fayed got a second yellow card after fouling Desire Doue in the 94th minute.

France in the end only took nine minutes to actually score the lead. Mateta was again on the scoreboard after taking advantage of Olise's corner.

The goal was Mateta's fourth goal during the 2024 Paris Olympics. The hosts were on the verge of victory to catch up with Spain to the final.

Winning the number of players makes France more comfortable. Egypt really had difficulty carrying out attacks after playing with 10 people.

Instead, instead of equalizing, Egypt is sinking. France scored the third goal in the second half, exactly in the 108th minute.

This time Olise was on the scoreboard after the previous two goals were just creators.

The goal came from Doue who pushed into the penalty box and fired a shot. Hossam Abdelmaguid managed to block the shot.

However, the wild ball points to Olise. He controlled the ball by tengation before sending a shot that was hard to reach Aala.

The goal was the closing of France's victory over Egypt. Les Bleus followed Spain to the final which became the fight for the gold medal on August 9, 2024.

France are chasing their second gold medal in football. The last time they won was at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.