US men's soccer team ends 24-year wait to reach QF at Olympics. France to meet Argentina

SAINT-ETIENNE, France -- To chants of “U.S.A.” America’s men ended a 24-year wait to reach the quarterfinals of the Olympic soccer tournament by beating Guinea 3-0 on Tuesday.

Victory in Saint-Etienne saw the U.S. reach the knockout phase of the Games for the first time since Sydney 2000, and it will play Morocco in Paris on Friday.

“Right now I’m living this moment and we’ll analyze what it means once we are done with it,” U.S. coach Marko Mitrovic said.

Two goals from Kevin Paredes and a brilliant free kick from Djordje Mihailovic secured the victory that meant the U.S. advanced in second place behind Group A winner France, which beat New Zealand 3-0.

The Americans — playing in the Olympics for the first time since Beijing 2008 — responded impressively to their opening 3-0 loss to France by winning back-to-back games against New Zealand and Guinea.

Next up is a Morocco team that finished atop Group B and beat Argentina along the way.

“I watched actually the first game against Argentina,” Mitrovic said. “I was in my room, our game was 9 p.m., theirs was 3 p.m. I actually think they are a very, very good team.”

A win against Morocco would see the U.S. emulate its performance in Sydney when it reached the semifinals.

“We came here to be who we are and I think we did it again today and we just have to recover and go to the next game,” Mitrovic said.

Mihailovic, who hit the bar when the score was still goalless in the game against France, scored a curling free kick from the edge of the area to give the U.S. the lead in the 14th minute.

Paredes slotted in his first in the 31st and powered in another in the 75th.

It will be a repeat of the World Cup final when France meets Argentina in the quarterfinals in Bordeaux on Friday.

Argentina won that epic contest on penalties after a 3-3 draw in Qatar in 2022 and rivalries between the nations could be intensified by racist chants made by Argentina’s players after they won the Copa America this month.

“I won’t talk about it,” France coach Thierry Henry said Tuesday. “We just qualified. We’re going to play a game. My head is still into this game.”

France maintained its 100% record at the tournament with victory over New Zealand in Marseille through goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta, Desire Doue and Arnaud Kalimuendo.

Thiago Almada scored a brilliant solo in Argentina’s 2-0 win over Ukraine — securing back-to-back victories after the shock opening defeat to Morocco. Claudio Echeverri sealed the win, but it wasn’t enough to advance atop Group B.

Morocco took top spot after beating Iraq 3-0 in Nice.

Morocco and Argentina were level on points and had identical goal difference and goals scored. It meant Morocco took first place by virtue of its 2-1 win over Argentina at the start of the tournament.

Play was briefly suspended during the second half in Nice after a man holding a Palestinian flag invaded the pitch. He was swiftly removed by police. Several dozen riot police were then deployed along the field to prevent further incidents.

At the Parc des Princes in Paris, where Israel played Japan, fans held a banner that read “Genocide Olympics.”

Ibrahim Adel scored a pair of goals and Egypt advanced atop its group by beating Spain 2-1.

Spain had already reached the knockout round and was vying for a first-place finish in Group C but was instead leapfrogged after defeat in Bordeaux.

Dominican Republic played to a 1-1 tie with Uzbekistan, which had already been eliminated.

Second place for Spain means it has a quarterfinals match against Japan, which maintained its 100% record in Group D when Mao Hosoya scored in stoppage time to beat Israel 1-0.

Egypt plays Paraguay, which finished runner-up in Group D after Marcelo Fernandez's goal secured a 1-0 win over Mali.

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AP Sports writer Anne M. Peterson in Marseille and Barbara Surk in Nice contributed to this report.

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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games