In the early morning of July 31, Beijing time, the last round of Group B of the men's football group stage of the Paris Olympics started at the same time, with Argentina defeating Ukraine 2-0 and Morocco defeating Iraq 3-0. In this way, Argentina and Morocco advanced, Ukraine and Iraq were eliminated, and the group of death officially ended, and in a match that ended earlier, the top favorite Spain lost 1-2 to Egypt, and finally fell to second place in the group with 6 points.
Argentina has won two Olympic gold medals, most recently in 2008, and has not achieved good results in recent editions, including the last one in the group stage.
In this Olympic Games, Argentina has Alvarez, Almada, Otamendi and Rulli many World Cup champions, and is regarded as one of the favorites.
In the first round of the group stage, Argentina lost 1-2 to Morocco, won 3-1 against Iraq in the second round, and due to Ukraine's victory over Morocco, Argentina's qualifying situation changed from passive to active, rising from the bottom to the first, and all 4 teams in the same group have 3 points. Therefore, Argentina only needs to draw with Ukraine in the last round to ensure qualification for the knockout round.
In the first half, both teams attacked and defended each other but did not score. In the 47th minute of the second half, Almada scored from a distance to give Argentina a 1-0 lead, and after that, Ukraine fought back frantically, and in the 75th minute, Krasnopier's shot was blocked, missing a good chance to equalize. In the final moments, Argentina scored another goal to seal the victory 2-0.
The other match in the same group was played by Morocco against Iraq, which the two teams met in the group stage of the 2004 Olympic Games, when Morocco beat Iraq 2-1.
After 20 years, they met again, and the gap between the two teams was even greater. In the first half, Morocco basically controlled the game, and in the 19th minute, Richardson scored; In the 28th minute, Rahimi scored again; In the 36th minute, Abboud extended the score, and Morocco had a 3-0 lead before the end of the half, basically ending the suspense of the game.
In the second half, Iraq fought back and failed to score, and finally lost 0-3, from winning the first round to losing 2 games in a row, and the performance was high and low.
In the final standings of this group, Morocco and Argentina have 6 points and advance together, Morocco has a superior goal difference to lock in the first, Argentina ranks second, and Iraq and Ukraine with 3 points are eliminated, Iraq is also the second Asian team to exit after Uzbekistan, only Japan advanced to the quarterfinals, or 2 consecutive wins in advance.