France vs Argentina: Recalling serious scandal from… Copa America, risk of 'collapse'
Báo Thanh niên•31/07/2024
Fate has arranged for France and Argentina to face each other in the quarter-finals of the Paris Olympics.
unpredictable
“The match with France is a somewhat ‘hostile’ match, but we have to win to reach the semi-finals,” Argentine journalist Sebastien Torok affirmed right after the results of the draw brought the Tango team together with France in the quarter-finals of the Paris Olympics. The journeys of France and Argentina at the Olympics have one thing in common, which is skepticism. France, coached by Thierry Henry, won all three group stage matches, but their playing style was not convincing, and their opponents were too weak. As for Argentina, the double victory over Iraq and Ukraine could not dispel the scandal in the opening match. Coach Javier Mascherano and his team lost to Morocco in a completely deadlocked match, despite having many stars in the squad.
Argentina beat Ukraine to advance as runners-up
REUTERS
The paradox is that France and Argentina are the teams that crave the most championships, in a playground that football powers often do not appreciate. After successfully defending the Copa America throne, Argentina is the reigning world, continental and inter-regional champion. However, Argentine youth football has not won an Olympic gold medal for 16 years, and in the last two Olympics, they were even eliminated in the group stage by Honduras (2016) and Australia (2021). As for France, the most recent gold medal was half a century ago. As the Olympic hosts, Henry and his team obviously want to keep the throne in their homeland. However, the pressure to win the championship is not the main "spice" that makes the match between France and Argentina hot.
From the racist 'trigger'…
Today (July 31) marks exactly two weeks since the Argentine team's racism scandal broke out. On the bus back from winning the Copa America, a number of Argentine players, including Enzo Fernandez, sang a song that denigrated French players of African descent.
France was once racist
REUTERS
As soon as the video was posted by Enzo, the Argentine midfielder was unfollowed by the French players at Chelsea on social media. Although he apologized, Enzo has not been forgiven by his teammates. According to the British press, the relationship between this midfielder and the French players is still very tense and cannot be reconciled. On a macro level, the French Football Federation (FFF) has sued the Argentine team to FIFA. However, the problem of the racism scandal is not just Enzo's problem. Controversy has erupted between those who criticize Enzo, and those who defend the Argentine midfielder, saying that teasing and sarcasm are normal in the land of Tango. The war of words between France and Argentina broke out when Kylian Mbappe affirmed that EURO is harder to play than the World Cup (Argentine fans think that the French star downplayed the team's world championship), lasted through the Enzo incident, and continued at the Olympics when Argentina was involved in a scandalous opening match with Morocco.
…to the extremely 'hot' match
The opening match between Argentina and Morocco became a stain that was difficult to wash away at the Paris Olympics, when fans ran onto the field seven times to interrupt the match, or when Argentina scored in the 16th minute of extra time, Moroccan fans attacked the Argentine players with bottles and firecrackers. After a 2-hour interruption, the match continued with the conclusion… of depriving Argentina of a goal.
Can Argentina overcome France?
AFP
“It’s a circus, not a match,” coach Mascherano affirmed. The fate with Argentina is that this team had an incident in France. According to a part of the media and Argentine fans, France deliberately retaliated against Argentina after the recent scandals. That will make the quarter-final match at 2am on August 3 even more heated. “The match will be full of hostility, but we have to focus on playing football. That’s what Argentina can control,” coach Mascherano emphasized. The atmosphere of the match is expected to be filled with “things outside of football”, so in addition to the fate of the two football backgrounds, the risk of security instability will appear… All will create one of the most fiery matches at the Paris Olympics.
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