Managed by Thierry Henry, the French Olympic team’s preparations began with a training camp which began on 16th June – and is culminating with three friendly matches this month.
These began on Thursday (4th July) evening, with France U23s facing Paraguay U23s at Stade Jean-Dauger in Bayonne – and winning out 4-1, thanks to Mateta and Olise being in sparkling form.
Olise and Mateta were both named in the starting XI, but the game did not get off to an ideal start when Juan Salcedo took advantage of a third-minute France error to place the visitors into the lead.
But France hit back on the stroke of half-time thanks to a Palace connection: Olise broke from the centre of the pitch and slipped in Mateta, who blasted past the advancing ‘keeper from the angle – the striker’s first goal for his country in over five years, having last played in June 2019.
The football tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics will be held between Wednesday 24th July and Saturday 10th August in seven host venues across France, including main host city Paris; Bordeaux; Marseille and Nice.
France are in Group A alongside the United States, Guinea and New Zealand.
Brazil are the two-time defending men’s champions, but failed to qualify on this occasion, with France having previously won gold in the United States in 1984 and silver in the very first summer tournament, which they hosted in 1900.
With Paris this year’s host city, Les Bleus will be among the favourites to win gold at the competition under the tutelage of national legend Thierry Henry.
Olise, before this latest call-up, was looking to add to his seven previous caps for the Under-21s, having debuted against the Faroe Islands in March 2022 and scored his first goal against Norway at last summer’s U21 European Championships.
Mateta, meanwhile, who qualifies as an overage player for the competition, had – prior to his selection – previously won 11 caps at Under-21s level, scoring three times. The striker had last represented his country in June 2019.
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