Michael Olise among Bundesliga quintet to win Olympic silver with France
Bayern Munich's new signing Michael Olise was one of a handful of Bundesliga players to earn a silver medal at the 2024 Olympic Games with France, who lost 5-3 against Spain in the Gold Medal match on Friday.
Olise, who penned a four-year contract with Bayern earlier this summer, started the decider alongside Kiliann Sildillia (Freiburg), Castello Lukeba (RB Leipzig), Manu Koné (Borussia Mönchengladbach) and Enzo Millot (Stuttgart) – with the latter even opening the scoring at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
Here is how the tournament panned out:
Matchday 1
France showed their quality by defeating the United States 3-0 in the teams' opening game in Group A - with Bayern new boy Olise hitting the target for the victors. Sildillia, Lukeba, Koné and Millot were also on board for the French as they began their bid to bring the nation Olympic football gold for only the second time.
There were also victories for Japan and Bremen's Kein Sato, who won 5-0 against Paraguay, while Iraq and Eintracht Braunschweig's Youssef Amyn beat Ukraine 2-1 against Ukraine. Schalke's Ibrahima Cissé played in Mali's 1-1 draw against Israel and Naby Keïta's Guinea side lost their first match 1-2 against New Zealand.
Watch: Michael Olise joins Bayern Munich
Matchday 2
France claimed another victory, this time with a 1-0 win against Keita's Guinea, with Freiburg's Sildillia scoring the winning goal after an assist from Bayern's new signing Michael Olise. Leipzig's Castello Lukeba and Gladbach's Manu Koné were also in the starting eleven from the Bundesliga, while Stuttgart's Enzo Millot was substituted on in the 58th minute.
That makes it two wins out of two now for France, who will face a New Zealand side which includes former Bayern man Sarpreet Singh next.
Japan also managed a narrow 1-0 victory against Mali, with Bremen's Kein Sato coming on in the 69th minute, while Schalke defender Ibrahima Cissé played the full game for Mali. The USA and Wolfsburg's Paredes recorded a resounding 4-1 victory against New Zealand, with Frankfurt's Paxten Aaronson, who is on loan to FC Utrecht this season, scoring the fourth goal of the game. Iraq, including Braunschweig's Youssef Amyn, lost 1-3 to Argentina.
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Matchday 3
The hosts France win again! The team, which included Leipzig's Castello Lukeba and former Mainz striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, beat New Zealand 3-0. In the quarter-finals, the French will face Argentina in a duel between the tournament favourites. The hosts will be followed into the round of the last eight by the USA as Wolfsburg's Paredes scored a brace in the 3-0 win against Guinea with Keïta; Maximilian Dietz and Paxten Aaronson were also in the starting eleven for the US boys, who will face Morocco in the quarter-finals.
For Iraq and Amyn, the Olympics are over after a 0-3 defeat against Morocco. The same applies to Mali and Schalke's Cissé, who were eliminated after a 0-1 defeat against Paraguay. Japan, on the other hand, qualified for the quarter-finals with three victories and three clean sheets. The team, led by Sato, celebrated their third win in three games with a 1-0 win against Israel and they will now face Spain in the quarter-finals.
Knockout stages
The USA were beaten 0-4 by Morocco in the quarter-finals, despite Paredes playing the whole match and Aaronson featuring as a substitute in the final ten minutes. Sato and Japan also exited after a 0-3 defeat for Spain, but there was better fortune for the French contingent, with Olise setting up Jean-Philippe Mateta, formerly of Mainz, to score the winner in a tight encounter against Argentina - even if Millot saw a red card after the final whistle for his part in a melee.
After France fell behind to Egypt in the semi-finals, Olise turned on the style again to set up Mateta for a massive late equaliser in the 83rd minute. Sildillia then headed another Olise cross into the path of Mateta for France to grab the lead in extra time before the new Bayern signing netted himself in the 109th minute to seal a 3-1 win and put the hosts into the final against Spain.
Gold Medal match
Victory appeared to be on the cards for France, at least initially, when Stuttgart's Millot opened the scoring after just 11 minutes following a mistake by Spain goalkeeper Arnau Tenas. However, La Roja soon rallied and turned the game around inside a 10-minute spell in which they scored three times to take a 3-1 lead into the break.
It remained an intense, hard-fought affair in the second half and France managed to equslise at 3-3 thanks to a penalty in the third minute of stoppage time, forcing the match into extra time. Yet it was Spain who regained the advantage, scoring twice more to take gold.
Bundesliga players at Paris 2024
Group A
France
Manu Koné (Gladbach)
Castello Lukeba (Leipzig)
Enzo Millot (Stuttgart)
Michael Olise (Bayern Munich)
Killann Sildillia (Freiburg)
Guinea
Naby Keïta (Werder Bremen)
Ilaix Moriba (Leipzig)
New Zealand
Sarpreet Singh (most recently Hansa Rostock)
USA
Maximilian Dietz (Greuther Fürth)
Kevin Paredes (Wolfsburg)
Johan Gómez (Eintracht Braunschweig) - reserve
Group B
Iraq
Youssef Amyn (Eintracht Braunschweig)
Group C
Dominican Republic
Enrique Bösl (Ingolstadt)
Fabian Messina (FSV Frankfurt)
Group D
Japan
Sato Kein (Bremen)
Israel
Daniel Peretz (Bayern Munich)
Mali
Ibrahima Cissé (Schalke)
The groups
Venues
- Parc des Princes, Paris
- Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes
- Stade de Bordeaux
- Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Etienne
- Stade de Lyon
- Stade de Marseille
- Stade de Nice
Schedule
The top two from each group progressed to the knockout stages, with the Group A winner playing the Group B runner-up etc.
24-30 July: Group stage
2 August: Quarter-finals (Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Paris)
5 August: Semi-finals (Lyon, Marseille)
8 August: Bronze medal match (Nantes)
9 August: Gold medal match (Paris)
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