2024 Olympic Men's Football Semifinals: A Moroccan Surprise Awaiting

The 2024 Olympic semi-finals brought together the best teams in Paris, with Morocco emerging as a "dark horse" capable of challenging any obstacle.

Morocco challenges Spain.

"I am very happy to be making history with the team and we will do everything to win a medal," Achraf Hakimi said happily after leading the Moroccan Olympic team to the semi-finals of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

This is the first time in Olympic history that we have reached the semi-finals, since the age limit was changed to 23 (Barcelona 1992).

Hakimi and Morocco make history.

Hakimi, who will captain Morocco at the 2024 Paris Olympics, wants even more: to become the third African team to win a gold medal, after Nigeria (1996) and Cameroon (2000).

To achieve that, Morocco must overcome Spain, with their outstanding individual players, in the semi-finals (11 PM on August 5th).

Morocco is built on a foundation of players who play football in Europe. In fact, many of them were born on the Old Continent, such as Hakimi, Ilias Akhomach (Spain), Bilal El Khannous (Belgium; suspended for the semi-final), and Amir Richardson (France).

Meanwhile, football Spain is currently enjoying a successful season with several major titles recently.

The Spanish national team won EURO 2024 with 7 wins out of 7 matches. The U19 team set a record of 12 European U19 Championship titles a week ago. In addition, the U19 women's team also won the continental youth championship for the third consecutive time.

In Paris 2024, Spain didn't stand out tactically. Instead, "La Roja" had individuals who knew how to make a difference, most notably Fermin Lopez and Alex Baena – players who were substitutes at EURO 2024.

Spain has many outstanding individuals.

The first semi-final between Morocco and Spain at the Velodrome in the port city of Marseille will undoubtedly be a high-level battle of tactics and technique, no less impressive than the final.

France's opportunity

The home advantage is helping the young stars of the French Olympic team to fully showcase their potential.

France is the only team with a perfect winning record in the semi-finals of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Thierry Henry's team hasn't even conceded a single goal.

Since their only gold medal win in 1984, when Michel Platini led the national team to victory in the European Championship , this is the first time France has reached the Olympic semi-finals.

While France's group stage campaign was relatively easy, mainly due to the relatively weak opponents, their 1-0 quarter-final victory over Argentina was a testament to the prowess of coach Henry's team.

France played a balanced and flexible game with a 4-3-1-2 formation. In that lineup, Michael stood out in the "number 10" role, but in reality, "Les Bleus" always had many other goal-scoring options.

France has a perfect winning record.

To date, France's 8 goals have been scored by 7 different players. Jean-Philippe Mateta is the only one to have scored more than once (2).

France has a good chance of reaching the final. However, the home team should not underestimate Egypt.

Egypt currently has an unbeaten record, having impressed by defeating Spain in the "Group C final," and then coming from behind to eliminate Paraguay in the quarter-finals.

Egypt's strength lies in their solid style of football, implemented by coach Rogerio Micale – the hero who helped Brazil win their first-ever Olympic gold medal on home soil in Rio 2016.

In Rogerio Micale's tactical system, Mohamed Elneny provides stability and balance. Meanwhile, Ibrahim Adel makes a difference in attack, scoring 3 out of the team's 4 goals.

On the Lyon pitch (2 AM on August 6th), Egypt will build a solid wall to challenge France and seek an opportunity to make history.

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