A place in the final. After the early elimination of the Bleues in the women’s tournament, the Bleuets are now the only ones who can bring an Olympic medal to French football. Alexandre Lacazette’s teammates have the opportunity, on August 5 at 9 p.m., to treat themselves to a gold medal match. After a perfect group stage, punctuated by three victories, and a narrow success against Argentina (1-0) in the quarter-finals, Thierry Henry’s players face a still unknown Egyptian team in Lyon. The French are favorites, but the match promises to be tough.
A starting eleven in form but modified. If since the start of the competition Thierry Henry has lined up the same line-up, with the exception of the match against New Zealand when France had already qualified, the French coach is forced to change his plans for the semi-final. With the suspensions of Manu Kone (accumulation of yellow cards) and Enzo Millot, sent off following the scuffle with the Argentinians, the French midfield should be shaken up.
Egypt, a strong opponent. The Egyptians were not expected to be at this stage of the competition. The Pharaohs had a solid group stage with a victory against the Spanish (2-1), before eliminating Paraguay on penalties in the quarter-finals. Around the experienced former Arsenal player Mohamed Elneny, the team is relying on a 2001 generation already used to playing together.
Secure a medal, the first in 40 years. In the Olympic tournament for only the second time in seven editions, Les Bleus qualified for the semi-finals for the first time since Los Angeles in 1984, the year in which the French won their only gold medal.