France vs Guinea

France’s pursuit of a long-awaited gold medal at the Olympic Games continues against Guinea at the Allianz Riviera.

France commenced the tournament as one of the leading candidates to win the gold medal and immediately lived up to their tag with an overwhelming 3-0 victory against the United States on day one. Thierry Henry’s star-studded line-up left it late to beat the USA, netting all three goals beyond the 60th minute. Confident of halting their 40-year wait for a men’s football gold medal at the Olympics, Les Bleus are on the verge of reaching the quarter-finals, just as they’ve done on the two previous occasions when they have hosted the Games. Beating Guinea would all but seal the deal, and Henry’s men are in pole position to do that, having won three of their last four outings (D1) while netting a jaw-dropping 15 goals.

As for Guinea, their stuttering start in Group A saw them concede on either side of halftime in a morale-wracking 2-1 loss to Oceanian minnows New Zealand. The National Elephants had a goal disallowed for offside at the start of the second half in their first appearance at the Olympic football tournament since 1968. History spells further trouble for Guinea, as they lost 3-1 to France in the only previous meeting between the nations at the Olympics in Mexico. However, Kaba Diawara’s charges are no strangers to pulling off upsets. They punched above their weight to topple Argentina 1-0 in a pre-tournament warm-up clash, suggesting Les Bleus can’t afford to write them off before the kick-off.