Despite their gold medal hopes being dashed, Egypt and Morocco are set to vie for their first-ever Olympic men’s football podium finish in today’s bronze medal match in Nantes.
Both teams have enjoyed impressive campaigns at the Paris Games.
Egypt, advancing as Group C winners, reached their first semi-final in 60 years.
Morocco, topping Group B, made it to the knockout stages for the first time.
Egypt came close to a historic upset against France in the semi-finals, having previously secured a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Paraguay, the 2004 silver medallists.
Read Also: Paris 2024: D’Tigress lose 74-88 to USA, crash out of Olympics
However, a late goal from Jean-Philippe Mateta forced extra time, and Egypt ultimately lost 3-1.
Now, under the guidance of Brazilian coach Rogerio Micale, who led his country to their first Olympic gold in 2016, Egypt is aiming for a historic medal finish.
“We had a great performance. We kept France at bay for 80 minutes, which I think was superb,” Micale said after Monday’s loss. “It hurts, but we have to keep our heads high and focus on playing for bronze. It will be very difficult, but we have to try to win. It would be a huge joy for me to win another medal for another country.
“I’m really proud to have been the manager of Brazil when they won their first football gold in Rio 2016 and now to be in a position to take Egypt to the first football medal match in history.”
Morocco continue their rise in world football having reached the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup, where they finished fourth after knocking out heavyweights Spain and Portugal in previous rounds.
Morocco, who thrashed the United States 4-0 in the quarter-finals, pushed Spain to the limit in the semi-final in Marseille, taking a first-half lead through Soufiane Rahimi, the tournament’s leading scorer with six, who could become the first player to score in six consecutive Olympic matches.
Despite their 2-1 late defeat by the Tokyo silver medallists, coach Tarik Sektioui took the positives from his squad’s performance.
“This was a good lesson for the young players on how to manage situations like that in the future,” Sektioui said.
“Of course, we’re very disappointed, but we have to move on from this defeat quickly because we have another match on Thursday. We still have a chance to win a medal, and we want to do just that for our country.”
