Paris 2024 football: France cruise into men’s quarter-finals to set up Argentina clash
Team France are relishing their home Games at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, cruising into the quarter-finals of the men’s football tournament with a 3-0 win over New Zealand.
Jean-Philippe Mateta’s first-half strike broke the deadlock for Thierry Henry’s men, as they completed Group A with a 100 per cent record.
Goals from Desire Doue and Arnaud Kalimuendo sealed all three points in a comfortable victory over the Kiwis.
It is the first time the French have reached this stage of the competition since Atlanta 1996, going no further that time around.
They opened their account in Paris with a thumping 3-0 win over the United States, before narrowly squeezing past Guinea courtesy of Kiliann Sildillia’s late winner.
After topping the table, France will now face Argentina in the last eight, with the South Americans finishing second in their own group, on Friday, 2 August.
Elsewhere in Group A, the United States saw off Guinea with three unanswered goals to set up a last-eight tie against Morocco.