Host France will battle one of the African representatives Egypt after beating Javier Mascherano’s Argentina 1-0 in a match that ended in scuffles moment after the final whistle at the Matmut Atlantique stadium in Bordeaux.
Argentina coach Mascherano had insisted before the match that his team will focus on the challenge of a France team that reached the quarterfinals with three wins and no goals conceded in Group A.
However, Jean-Philippe Mateta’s early header was enough for France to beat Argentina 1-0 and reach the semi-finals at the Paris Olympics.
France won their only Olympic title in 1984, the year they also won the European Championship.
There was shoving for a couple of minutes before the players were broken up. Some French players appeared to sprint down the tunnel moments later.
But they came back out a short time later and did a lap of honour.
Argentina’s players were booed throughout the match by a hostile crowd, who celebrated early on when Mateta headed home in the fifth minute for coach Thierry Henry’s team, who will now face Egypt in the last four.
Argentina was given a hard time by the Bordeaux crowd. The first few Argentina players came out to booing almost an hour before kick-off. The stadium music system then drowned out much of the jeering.
Argentina’s national anthem was also met with a chorus of jeers and whistles, and home fans booed Argentina’s players after the kick-off when they touched the ball.
A racism scandal has heightened tensions, following a video of Argentina players singing an offensive song about French players of African heritage as they celebrated their Copa America victory last month.
Over 400 police and gendarmerie officers were deployed for the match, in addition to 100 military personnel, and security forces used drones to help make the event safe.
The atmosphere outside the stadium was anything but tense, however. Fans of both nations mingled with each other without any signs of hostility, some with Argentina flags or jerseys with Lionel Messi’s name on the back.
