Dominant Morocco Outclasses USA to Reach Semi-Finals
Captain Achraf Hakimi was among the scorers as a dominant Morocco outclassed the USA on Friday, securing a 4-0 victory to reach the semi-finals of the Olympic men’s football tournament.
Strong Support and Commanding Performance
Morocco enjoyed the backing of a noisy and packed crowd at the Parc des Princes and proved too strong for the USA. Soufiane Rahimi opened the scoring from the penalty spot before Ilias Akhomach and Hakimi added further goals in the second half. Mehdi Maouhoub wrapped up the win with another spot-kick.
Gold Medal Contenders
After topping their group ahead of Argentina, Morocco looks like serious gold medal contenders. They advance to a semi-final on Monday in Marseille against either Japan or Spain. The Olympic men’s football final will take place at the Parc des Princes next Friday, August 9.
Support from Moroccan Community
The sizeable Moroccan community in France has turned out in big numbers over the last week to support their team, who came to the Games after winning last year’s Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations. The team is captained by one of the world’s best full-backs, Hakimi, and features two dynamic wingers, Akhomach and Abde Ezzalzouli, alongside the prolific Rahimi in attack.
Key Moments of the Match
The United States struggled to recover once Rahimi converted a penalty just before the half-hour mark after being fouled in the area by Nathan Harriel. Rahimi, who plays in the United Arab Emirates and is one of Morocco’s three overage players at the Olympics, is the tournament’s top scorer with five goals in four games.
Miles Robinson missed a good chance for the Americans just before the hour, but Morocco doubled their lead on 63 minutes. Ezzalzouli produced a great piece of play on the left flank before picking out his fellow former Barcelona youngster Akhomach to finish at the near post. Hakimi, playing on his Paris Saint-Germain home ground, then ran through to make it 3-0 with 20 minutes remaining. Substitute Maouhoub added another penalty in stoppage time after Harriel was penalised for handball following a VAR review.
Upcoming Quarter-Finals
The remaining quarter-finals all take place later on Friday, with the highlight being the match in Bordeaux where hosts France, coached by Thierry Henry, take on two-time gold medallists Argentina. It will be the first meeting of the nations since Argentina players were recorded singing racist chants about their French counterparts as they celebrated winning the Copa America in mid-July. FIFA announced that it would investigate the chants, which targeted France’s star striker Kylian Mbappe among others and included racist and homophobic insults.
