July 22, (THEWILL) – The Olympic football team of North American country Mexico opened their Tokyo Games Group A campaign to a winning start against France that ended with an emphatic 4-1 scoreline to underscore the victors’ tag as favourites for the gold medal.
The scoreline did not look possible after the first half of the first men’s game at the Tokyo Stadium ended with neither team able to produce a goal to break the deadlock. It was not for want of trying as both sides created chances to open scoring but could not find the finishing touch.
Rather, the highlight of the half was a pair of yellow cards for both France and Mexico five minutes apart from each other. There were only 15 minutes on the clock when Clement Michelin had to be cautioned by the referee and Ernesto Vega received a similar caution five minutes later.
The match however came alive upon resumption from the interval. Coach Jaime Lozano must have done some lecturing for his charges during the break as they were fast out of the blocks in the second half with Alexis Vega opening the scoring just two minutes in.
Eight minutes later and the Mexicans doubled their lead in a move that saw them pile the pressure on their French opponents. France manager Sylvain Ripoll responded by replacing Lucas Tousart Sebastian with Alexis Beka and taking off Arnaud Nordin for Randal Kolo Muani.
It proved to be excellent substitutions because with only nine minutes played, these substitutes combined to win a penalty for France. Up stepped centre striker Andre-Pierre Gignac to convert, reduce their deficit and narrow Mexico’s two-goal advantage to one.
France kept up the pressure, looking for an equaliser only to have a steeper uphill task when Lozano’s substitute Carlos Antuna, brought on just after the French goal in place of the player who gave the first assist Diego Lainez, found the back of the net with 10 minutes of regulation time left.
Just before the final whistle, Eduardo Aguirre made it four in injury time to sweeten the Mexican victory, give them the cushion of “goals for”, if they ever come to need that in their bid to progress to the latter stages. France, on the other hand will be careful to get better results in their Thursday game for the sake of their continued presence in Tokyo.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
