Football heroes of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris

Football heroes of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris

While there were expectations that Lionel Messi would play for Argentina, Kylian Mbappe chose to compete in his home city's Olympics this year. However, the men's football competition at the Paris Games will not feature many big-name players. Being the most well-known athlete in the nation hosting the Games this year, Mbappe's inclusion in coach Thierry Henry's Olympic team would have greatly aided the organizing committee and increased the team's chances of taking home the gold.

Olympic 2024
Olympic 2024

Mbappe, 25, played for the French team that advanced to the Euro 2024 semifinals in Germany, but he had to accept that his new team, Real Madrid, would not permit him to play right away. The issue with the men's football competition is that it starts on Wednesday and ends on August 9. For international football, clubs are not required to release players for a tournament that takes place outside of the regular FIFA window, which comes right after the European Championship and Copa America.


Shortly before Argentina won the Copa America in the United States, Messi, who is currently 37 years old and was a member of the 2008 Olympic team in Beijing, excluded himself from Javier Mascherano's roster for Paris. "We agreed on the situation immediately after speaking with Mascherano," Messi said to ESPN. "I need to make the right decisions because, at my age, I don't want to play everything." The legendary French football player Henry also lost out on a number of other players he had intended to call up.


The 33-year-old Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette and recent Bayern Munich acquisition Michael Olise are the team's most recognizable names. "The last time I had so many rejections was when I was at high school," he laughed. Except for a maximum of three older players per squad, participation in the competition is limited to athletes under the age of 23. Along with the big names, Brazil is absent from the competition. Brazil won gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and held the title three years prior in Tokyo after defeating Spain in the championship match.

Rivals Spain and Argentina Argentina must be feeling confident about their chances of making it six straight Latin American men's football gold medal winners despite their failure to qualify. Coach Mascherano, who won in 2004 and 2008 as a player, stated in an interview with South American confederation CONMEBOL, "Obviously our objective is to try to compete and go all the way, and I think we will have a team that can do that." 

They will have one of the most well-known players competing in Julian Alvarez, the Manchester City striker who won the most recent Copa America and the 2022 World Cup. Group B includes Argentina, Iraq, Ukraine, and a Morocco team that has signed Paris Saint-Germain right-back Achraf Hakimi. In addition to playing Guinea and New Zealand in Group A, France will begin their campaign against the United States. Spain, silver medalists in Tokyo in 1992 and winners at Euro 2024, are aiming for gold. The coach of Spain, who won the Euros, Luis de la Fuente, guided the squad to the Olympics final. Now in command is his assistant from three years ago, Santi Denia.


Notably absent is Lamine Yamal, one of the top players from the European Championship, although Pau Cubarsi, a 17-year-old center defender from Barcelona, is another extraordinary young potential. "He is genuinely thrilled to be experiencing the Olympics." Denia said to Marca, "You never know if you will get another chance, even being so young," in reference to Cubarsi. With Egypt, the Dominican Republic, and Uzbekistan in Group C, Spain is not joined by Mohamed Salah of Liverpool.

Champions of Asia Under-23 Japan, who selected a team devoid of players overage, is in Group D with Israel, Mali, and Paraguay. There will be games held in Nantes, Bordeaux, Nice, and Saint-Etienne in addition to Paris. Lyon and Marseille will host the semi-finals, and the final will take place in Paris's Parc des Princes. 

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