MARSEILLE: France striker Jean-Philippe Mateta set the tone Tuesday ahead of a quarterfinal clash with Argentina in the men’s Olympic football tournament by saying recent bad blood with the South Americans had left on its mark on the country.
“With everything that has happened recently, everyone in France was affected, so we will see what happens in the quarterfinals,” said Crystal Palace striker Mateta after wearing the captain’s armband and scoring the opening goal in Tuesday’s 3-0 win against New Zealand in Marseille.
A third win out of three in the first round, each one with a clean sheet, allowed the Thierry Henry-coached hosts to finish on top of Group A.
That set up a last-eight tie against Argentina, who qualified for the knockout phase earlier Tuesday by beating Ukraine 2-0 in Lyon but missed out on first place in Group B as Morocco pipped them on head to head.
The tie, which will be played on Friday in Bordeaux, will be the first meeting of the nations since Argentina players were recorded singing racist chants about their French counterparts as they celebrated winning the Copa America earlier this month.
FIFA said it would investigate the chants, which targeted France’s star striker Kylian Mbappe among others and included racist and homophobic insults.
The game will be the first meeting of the nations since the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar which Argentina won on penalties after a 3-3 draw, although Argentina’s Nicolas Otamendi and Julian Alvarez are the only players to feature in that match who are involved at the Olympics.
“Argentina are the reigning world champions and are a team who always get to the finals of tournaments,” said Mateta.
“But we will celebrate our victory first and then gently build up to that match.”
Argentina are targeting a third men’s Olympic football gold medal after previous triumphs in 2004 and 2008.
They lost their opening game in France to Morocco in controversial circumstances but recovered to beat Iraq and then Ukraine.
“We started with a defeat and were really angry about the first game but we managed to bounce back,” Manchester City striker Alvarez told broadcaster TyC Sports.
“We know what it means playing France, who are the hosts, but to get to the final we have to beat whoever is in front of us.”
