By JEROME PUGMIRE
BORDEAUX, France (AP) — 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 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. But they came back out a short time later and did a lap of honor.
Argentina’s players were booed throughout the match by a hostile crowd, which celebrated early on when striker Jean-Philippe Mateta headed home in the fifth minute for coach Thierry Henry’s team, which will face Egypt in the last four on Monday in Lyon.
Mateta was celebrating with captain Alexandre Lacazette when they noticed the 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 said. “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.
A racism scandal had heightened pre-match 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.
Henry was annoyed that Enzo Millot — who had been substituted — got a red card for his part in the fracas.
“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.”
Henry is a World Cup and European Championship winner with France, as well as English club Arsenal’s all-time record scorer. He praised his team’s resolute mentality.
“Sometimes in a competition you win with pain,” he said.
It was a night of wasteful finishing from two-time Olympic champion Argentina, summed up when Luciano Gondou blazed over deep into stoppage time.
But the miss of the game — and perhaps the tournament — went to striker Giuliano Simeone. He somehow headed well over from meters out in an evenly contested first half.
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 Argentina goalkeeper Geronimo 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.
Argentina striker Julián Álvarez shot over and threw his head back in disbelief. A World Cup champion, twice a Copa America and Premier League winner, Alvarez failed to score in this tournament.
France thought it scored again with a few minutes left in regulation time, but Michael Olise’s effort was ruled out when a video replay showed midfielder Maghnes Akliouche fouling an Argentina player moments earlier.
France won its only Olympic title in 1984, the year it also won the European Championship.
Argentina, the 2004 and ’08 Olympic champion, was given a hard time by the Bordeaux crowd.
The first few Argentina players came out to booing before kickoff. The stadium music system then drowned out much of the jeering.
Argentina’s national anthem was also met with a chorus of jeers and whistles, and home fans booed Argentina’s players after the kickoff when they touched the ball.
Earlier Friday, Argentina’s handball team was jeered as it entered the South Paris Arena arena. 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.
France great Zinedine Zidane burst onto the scene with Bordeaux, known as “Les Girondins” by soccer fans around France.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
