The Men's Olympic Football Tournament at the Paris 2024 Games kicks off on Wednesday afternoon when Argentina square off against Morocco for their opening Group B match at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Etienne.
Argentina are striving to replicate the success of the senior team who have won a World Cup and two Copa America titles over the last four years, while Morocco will endeavour to emulate the heroics of the first-team squad that reached the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Match preview
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Argentina are gearing up for their 10th appearance at the Olympic Games and will be aiming to improve on their efforts at Tokyo 2020 where they failed to advance from the group stage after being pipped to a top-two finish by Egypt via goal difference.
La Albiceleste are regarded as one of the favourites to triumph this time around in Paris and are managed by a proven winner in former Liverpool and Barcelona midfielder Javier Mascherano, who won gold as a player at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, and has been in charge of Argentina's youth side since 2021.
South American countries have dominated the Men's Olympic Football Tournament in recent years, winning four of the last five gold medals, including two for Argentina and two for Brazil - the latter have won the last two tournaments but failed to qualify for Paris 2024, meaning that Argentina and Paraguay are flying the flag for South America this time around.
Since finishing second, behind Paraguay, in the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament in mid-February, Argentina have taken part in two friendly matches to prepare for the Paris Games, beginning with a thumping 5-0 victory over Petrus Flo, a team made up of French players currently without a club.
However, Argentina suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat to Guinea with a full-strength squad in their final warm-up match on Saturday, not an ideal result ahead of what could prove to be a tricky test against Morocco on Wednesday.
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The 2024 Paris Olympics will represent the eighth time that Morocco have taken part in the Men's Football Tournament and the first since they competed at London 2012 where they failed to progress from the group stage.
Morocco have qualified for this year's tournament after winning the 2023 Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations under former boss Issame Charai, who was 'bizarrely' relieved of his duties in March after losing three friendlies out of five at the backend of 2023 and later replaced by current head coach Tarik Sektioui, formerly of Porto in his playing days.
Sektioui has taken over a Morocco side who are currently ranked as fourth favourites with the bookmakers' to claim a gold medal in Paris; they will be aiming to secure at least a top-two finish in Group B and advance beyond the first phase for the first time since the 1972 Olympics when they reached the second round in Munich.
The Atlas Lions have taken part in three friendlies since the arrival of Sektioui, most recently playing out a 2-2 draw with Belgium in June after previously beating Wales 2-0 and losing 1-0 to Ukraine in May.
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Team News
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Argentina's 18-man squad includes four 2022 World Cup winners in Julian Alvarez, Nicolas Otamendi, Geronimo Rulli and Thiago Almada - the former three were also part of the senior squad that triumphed at the 2024 Copa America earlier this month.
Thirty-six-year-old Otamendi - one of three players in Mascherano's squad over the age of 23 - will provide the experience in a back four set to contain Gonzalo Lujan, Marco Di Cesare and Bruno Amione.
Santiago Hezze, who won the Europa Conference League with Olympiacos last season, could link arms with Almada and either Cristian Medina or Ezequiel Fernandez in centre-midfield, while Alvarez could be supported in attack by Kevin Zenon and Giuliano Simeone.
As for Morocco, every member of Sektioui has taken part in training this week except for Bologna's Oussama El Azzouzi, who is expected to link up with his teammates in the coming days.
The standout name in Morocco's squad is Paris Saint-Germain's Achraf Hakimi, who is expected to play at right-back, while Saint-Etienne's Benjamin Bouchouari, Villarreal's Ilias Akhomach and Real Betis' Abde Ezzalzouli are also set to feature in the first XI.
Argentina Under-23s possible starting lineup:
Rulli; Lujan, Di Cesare, Otamendi, Amione; Almada, Hezze, Medina; Zenon, Alvarez, Simeone
Morocco Under-23s possible starting lineup:
Mohamedi; Hakimi, El Wafi, Boukamir, Nakach; Targhalline, Bouchouari, Richardson; Akhomach, Rahimi, Ezzalzouli
We say: Argentina Under-23s 2-1 Morocco Under-23s
These two nations will be the favourites to secure a top-two finish in Group B, ahead of Iraq and Ukraine, and success for either side in Wednesday's fixture would put them in the driving seat to finish at the summit.
Argentina cannot take Morocco lightly in what could prove to be a closely-fought contest, but we expect the South Americans to prevail by a narrow scoreline.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
