Morocco, Egypt, Argentina through to men’s Olympic football knockouts

Morocco thrashed Iraq and Egypt upset Spain to win their groups on Tuesday, while Argentina sunk Ukraine to reach the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament quarter-finals. Abde Ezzalzouli’s wonder goal decorated an emphatic Morocco victory that sent them through as Group B winners ahead of Argentina, whose quarter-final ticket was seized by goals from Thiago Almada […]

Morocco thrashed Iraq and Egypt upset Spain to win their groups on Tuesday, while Argentina sunk Ukraine to reach the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament quarter-finals.

Abde Ezzalzouli’s wonder goal decorated an emphatic Morocco victory that sent them through as Group B winners ahead of Argentina, whose quarter-final ticket was seized by goals from Thiago Almada and Claudio Echeverri.

Elsewhere, Ibrahim Adel was the two-goal hero as Egypt upset Spain to progress in first place in Group C on a day when Dominican Republic, Iraq and Ukraine suffered elimination.

A chance-shy contest sprung to life at the end of the first half. Kiril Fesiun did brilliantly to repel a Luciano Gondou effort, before Mykola Mykhaylenko danced his way into the Argentina area only to see Marco Di Cesare make a superb block. The deadlock was broken in style courtesy of Almada’s moving strike from distance, before Echeverri put the result beyond doubt by sliding home a rebound.

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Morocco turned it on in Nice to not only go through, but to do so as section winners. Achraf Hakimi’s glorious cross enabled Amir Richardson to nod home the first at the back post, before Soufiane Rahimi pounced for his fourth goal of the tournament.

Ezzalzouli then completed the success in breathtaking style, jinking in from the left and unleashing an unstoppable strike from outside the box.