Paris: The men’s football matches at the 2024 Paris Olympics were off to a flying start with Spain winning 2-1 against Uzbekistan in a nervy encounter and Argentina climbing back from a two-goal deficit to draw the game against Morocco.
European Champions Spain drew first blood as they scored the first goal of the tournament thanks to a well-worked free-kick routine which saw Sergio Gomez head the ball to the back post which was then turned in by defender Marc Pubill to give the lead to La Roja.
Following Spain’s goal, Uzbekistan kicked into a different gear with repeated attacks at the Spanish goal. A dangerous foul by goal scorer Pubill in the 36th minute saw him receive a yellow card at the edge of the box which was comfortably saved by PSG goalkeeper Arnau Tenas.
A foul by Barcelona defender Pau Cubarsi in the dying minutes of the first half saw Uzbekistan being rewarded with a penalty which was slotted in by Eldor Shomurodov to tie the game.
Uzbekistan continued their fearless style of play into the second half but Spain won a penalty in the 58th minute through a foul by Fayzullaev which former Manchester City man Sergio Gomez was unable to convert thanks to a save by Abduvohid Nematov.
Gomez made up for his penalty miss almost minutes later and scored through a well-worked move in the 62nd minute to regain their one-goal advantage.
Argentina on the other hand roared back to tie the game 2-2 against Morocco in their opening encounter despite being two goals down.
Genk midfielder El Khannouss delivered a low cross from the byline and Rahimi hammered the ball into the net from close range in stoppage time of the first half to hand Morocco the lead.
A penalty in the 51st minute saw Rahimi score his second of the game and double their advantage against the Copa America champions.
Argentina came alive after the second goal and cut the advantage by half thanks to a goal by Giuliano Simeone. Despite repeated attempts it seemed as though it was not La Albiceleste’s day as they were unable to breach the Moroccan goal until 15 minutes into stoppage time when they struck the crossbar twice before the ball fell to Cristian Medina who scored a header from close range to snatch a point.
–IANS