Argentina vs Morocco Preview & Prediction | Paris 2024 Olympics | Men’s Football | Group Stage
Click here for today’s sports betting tips from our expert analysts!
The Argentinian senior team are currently the world champions and recently made it back-to-back South American titles with a Copa America win in the United States. They now begin their push for another Olympic gold medal as they begin against a Moroccan side captained by Paris Saint-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Wednesday 24th July, 2024, UK – 2:00pm / US ET – 9:00am / US PT – 6:00am
HOW TO WATCH THE PARIS OLYMPICS ON TV: UK – BBC is the main broadcaster while some event will be televised on Eurosport / US – NBC is the main broadcaster while some events will be shown on NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network and Telemundo
HOW TO WATCH THE PARIS OLYMPICS ONLINE: UK – BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website & Eurosport Player / US – Events can be streamed on the relevant streaming platforms of NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network and Telemundo
ARGENTINA PREVIEW: BUILDING THE DYNASTY
Under the management of former Liverpool and Barcelona midfielder Javier Mascherano, the Argentinians are looking to build upon the success of their senior side with an array of quality and experience throughout their squad. For example, two of the recent Copa America winning squad are a part of this team in Julian Alvarez and Nicolas Otamendi.
There is real quality below in the U23 category, though, too, with the likes of Ezequiel Fernandez, Thiago Almada, Claudio Echeverri, Santiago Hezze, Giuliano Simeone and Lucas Beltran. They qualified for the Olympics via the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament in the early spring whereby they defeated Brazil after high-scoring and entertaining draws with Venezuela and Paraguay.
MOROCCO PREVIEW: STRIVING FOR FURTHER SUCCESS
As mentioned, Achraf Hakimi is playing in the city of his club during this tournament as the Morocco captain. As well as Hakimi, the Moroccans also have 35-year-old goalkeeper Munir Mohamedi and 28-year-old striker Soufiane Rahimi as part of their squad. Unusually, though, the real talent comes from their youngsters.
Morocco boast the likes of Eliesse Ben Seghir, Bilal El Khannous, Ilias Akhomach, Abde Ez, Oussama El Azzouzi and Amir Richardson among others. The Moroccan U23 side have been relatively inconsistent in their most recent results with two victories and three defeats in their five matches since July 2023.
ARGENTINA VS MOROCCO PREDICTION
France are the pre-Olympic Tournament favourites but both Argentina and Spain are expected to make at least the semi-finals. However, below them in the odds would be this experienced Moroccan side, full of players who are a part of their senior squad. Argentina’s senior side created history in the last few years and a few players involved in those triumphs are involved here. This is a historically strong era for Moroccan football and it would be no surprise to see them go well, especially with large support expected. Teams tend to ease their way into tournaments so it may not be the best version of Javier Mascherano’s side in this opener. As a result, both teams scoring seems a good bet.
ARGENTINA VS MOROCCO TIP: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE
