Men’s Olympic soccer tournament, preliminary round, Wednesday, 24.07.2024 at 15:00
With two major footballing highlights of 2024 barely over, the next one is already in the starting blocks – the Olympic Games in Paris! The hunt for gold begins, and not just for the Copa America champions.
The Gauchos start the tournament on Wednesday and must not underestimate their first opponent. In my Argentina-Morocco tip, I’ll tell you who has which stars on board and why I’m betting on a defensive game with a maximum of two goals
Man is the best soccer team in the world again! Argentina celebrated winning the Copa America just a few weeks ago, so nobody cared how close the matches had been.
The two-time world champions showed a very efficient side, winning three times with 2:0, once with 1:0 and twice only after extra time or even penalties. Total goals conceded?
One, and that came against Ecuador in stoppage time. But before we get carried away with the euphoria that this nation will surely win Olympic gold, let’s take a look at the tournament format.
The U23 teams will be competing, and this is the same for all teams, although one or two experienced stars will still be taking part. Who exactly has been selected on the Argentinian side despite their advanced age?
Julian Alvaraz still can’t look forward to a summer break, while defensive specialist Nicolas Otamendi has also traveled to Paris. Goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli has been selected as the third player.
So two will be tasked with preventing goals, another with scoring them. What are Argentina’s chances of winning the precious metal? It has actually worked four times, and twice the medal has even shone gold!
The Gauchos won gold in 2004 and 2018, and silver in 1996 and 1928. The current squad is of course strong enough to compete for the best places again
Of course, it is more than difficult to predict how the Argentinians will perform, as the squad has never been assembled in its current form.
Nevertheless, I’d like to take a quick look at the history against Morocco, perhaps there’s a fact to be found there that says that a win is a must on Wednesday
However, since the two teams have only met three times directly, that doesn’t really seem to be the case. A competitive match between Argentina and Morocco? For the first time ever in Paris!
3:1, 1:0, 1:0 – the results so far show that Argentina must be the favorites, even historically. And so it comes as no surprise that you can find odds of 1.65 to 5.00 in our sports betting apps.
So how difficult will it be for the Moroccans to keep up with the second-best Olympic soccer nation in history? One thing is clear: the team should not be underestimated, as a look at the nominated squad shows.
Morocco currently occupy 14th place in the world rankings, so they are knocking on the top door. Which stars have traveled to Paris? Achraf Hakimi, who plays in the French capital anyway, leads the squad.
With Bilal El Khannouss, Ilias Akhomach and Eliesse Ben Seghir, there are other players who want to make a name for themselves, particularly in attack. Keeper Munir Mohamedi, on the other hand, stands for concentrated experience at the age of 35.
The Moroccans have yet to achieve major success on the Olympic stage. Although the nation has played in the tournament on one or two occasions, it has never made it past the preliminary round.
While Argentina recently won the Copa America, Morocco crashed out of the Africa Cup in the round of 16 at the start of the year, with a 2-0 defeat to South Africa their only defeat in 2024.
That Argentina are favored in a match against Morocco? Not worth mentioning, even if Wednesday is about the Olympic teams and not the “normal” teams.
The Albiceleste have won the Copa America with highly defensive performances, while Morocco have only lost once in 2024. Both have strong individual talents in their ranks.
I therefore assume that we will be dealing with a prolonged period of feeling things out, in which nobody wants to make the first mistake. And that’s exactly why my tip is now:
The 2.5 goals won’t be topped!
