Olympia 2021: France goes under against Mexico

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The Mexicans Diego Lainez, Alexis Vega and Carlos Rodriguez celebrate the lead against France

Photo: Dan Mullan / Getty Images

A sobering summer of football for the French national teams continues: At the U21 European Championship and the Pan-European Championship, the world championship country ended in the first knockout round, the Olympic football tournament now began for the Équipe Tricolore with one too Height deserved 1: 4 (0: 0) defeat just as sobering.

In the run-up to the tournament, the French, like the DFB-Elf, had problems winning their stars for the games in Tokyo. The best-known faces of the French team alongside Hertha professional Lucas Tousart, Florian Thauvin and André-Pierre Gignac, earn their money at the top Mexican club Tigres - since Olympic football is so important in the land of the 2012 gold medalist, the duo could do without Problems for the national team are eliminated.

The two stars alone were not enough against a playful Mexican team, for which Erik Vega headed the lead shortly after the break (47th).

Francisco Cordova increased a little later (55th), before Gignac converted a penalty into the interim kick (69th).

Cesar Montes had previously brought down substitute Randal Kolo Muani.

Mexico, however, remained clearly superior and came through the joker goals from Carlos Antuna (80th) and Eduardo Aguirre (90th) to the well-deserved and clear opening win.

The other opponents in Group A are South Africa and hosts Japan.

Spain's stars are not yet in shape

The Spaniards also ranked among the traditionally poor results of European teams at Olympic football tournaments: The last gold medal from a European country was in Barcelona in 1992 - at that time for hosts Spain.

The Spanish team were also expected to have good chances this summer.

Due to a peculiarity in the Spanish sports legislation, clubs have to release their players for the tournament, so that EM stars like Pedri or Mikel Oyarzabal were in the starting line-up against Egypt.

In Sapporo, however, both teams remained without a goal.

The Spaniards not only failed to meet their expectations, they also had to complain about two injuries: midfielder Dani Ceballos and defender Óscar Mingueza were both replaced before the break.

New Zealand with respectable success

In group B, the oceanic representative managed a surprise victory: New Zealand won the duel against the South Korean selection for Valencia's top talent Lee Kang-in 1-0 (0-0).

The winning goal came from Premier League striker Chris Wood from Burnley FC (72nd).

Ivory Coast wins in German group

The Ivory Coast won their opening game against Saudi Arabia with some difficulty.

First the Ivorian selection benefited from an own goal by Abdulelah Al Amri (39th), before the break Salem Al Dawsari came to equalize (44th).

Franck Kessié from AC Milan brought Ivory Coast back into the front after the break (66th) and secured his country 2-1 (1-1) success in the duel between the group opponents of Germany and Brazil.

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