Four players to watch in Olympics men’s football final

The sport’s very biggest stars may be missing from the Olympics men’s football tournament, but others have stepped up to make an impact over the last two weeks.

AFP Sport picks out four key players to follow in Friday’s final between hosts France and Spain:

Jean-Philippe Mateta

The bruising 27-year-old Crystal Palace striker scored 16 goals in the Premier League last season, including 14 in his last 16 appearances.

Despite those impressive statistics, he was never likely to be called up to the full France squad for Euro 2024. But coach Thierry Henry chose him to lead the line at the Olympics and Mateta has had a big impact.

His tally of four goals has been bettered only by the six of Morocco’s Soufiane Rahimi. All of Mateta’s strikes have come in the last three matches, with one in the 3-0 win over New Zealand in the final group game. That was followed by the winner in the quarter-final against
Argentina with a terrific near-post header at a corner, and then a crucial brace in the semi-final against Egypt as France came from behind to win 3-1 after extra time.

Fermin Lopez

The last year has seen Barcelona attacking midfielder Lopez, 21, enjoy a remarkable rise to prominence. He established himself as a regular for his club, scoring 11 goals in 42 appearances including one in a Clasico against Real Madrid.

Lopez then made the Spain squad for Euro 2024 and made one appearance on their run to glory in Germany. He came straight from there to the Olympics where he has started all of Spain’s matches except a defeat by Egypt in their final group game when qualification for the knockout stage had already been secured.

Lopez, a native of Andalusia, has scored four goals on Spain’s run to the final, including a brilliant brace in the quarter-final against Japan and the equaliser in the semi-final against Morocco. He then set up Juanlu Sanchez’s winner in that game, and France will need to find a way of stopping him if they are to win gold on Friday.

Michael Olise

It will surely not be long before Olise is called up by Didier Deschamps to the full French national squad. He has been a constant menace for opponents on the right wing for France at the Olympics, from where he has scored two goals including the killer third in the semi-final against Egypt. He also set up the equaliser in that game with an explosive run from deep.

Olise, 22, came to the Olympics fresh from joining Bayern Munich from Crystal Palace for a reported 60 million euros ($65.6m). That was after he scored 10 goals in 19 games in the Premier League last season.

A former member of the Chelsea and Manchester City academies, Olise was born and brought up in London to a Nigerian father and French-Algerian mother.

Pau Cubarsi

His Barcelona teammate Lamine Yamal was the sensation of Euro 2024 despite only turning 17 on the eve of Spain’s final triumph against England. Centre-back Cubarsi is a few months older, having celebrated his 17th birthday in January, but he is comfortably the youngest player in Spain’s Olympic squad named by coach Santi Denia.

A revelation for Barcelona last season, Cubarsi just missed out on a place in Spain’s squad at the Euros but has been a regular at the Olympics in central defence and will have a key role to play up against the French attack of Mateta, Olise and veteran captain Alexandre Lacazette.

AFP.