🚨 Argentina off the mark with win over Iraq; Spain through after victory

The men’s Olympic football gave us two more games this afternoon as Argentina took on Iraq and Spain faced Dominican Republic.

Here’s how they got on.

Argentina do enough

Scorers: Almada 14′, Gondou 62′, Fernandez 85′; Hussein 45+4′

Argentina eventually showed their class as they beat Iraq 3-1 to claim their first win of the 2024 Olympics.

Javier Mascherano’s side returned to action on Saturday hoping for something slightly less controversial than their remarkable defeat to Morocco on Wednesday.

In that match, the North African side eventually ran out 2-1 winners after the game had gone on for over four hours.

Here though, things looked a little easier for Mascherano’s men as they took the lead inside 15 minutes thanks to a brilliant volley from Thiago Almada.

Julian Alvarez had two great chances to double the Argentine’s lead before the break but the Manchester City man fired wide of the far post on both occasions.

And the South Americans would pay for that profligacy as on the stroke of half time Aymen Hussein got in front of his marker and headed in a glorious equaliser.

On the hour mark however, Argentina retook their lead as Luciano Gondou came off the bench and headed home with his very first touch.

And the Albiceleste then confirmed the win with five minutes to go as Ezequiel Fernandez completed a sensational team move by firing into the top corner from 20 yards out.

La Roja into the last eight

Scorers: Montes de Oca 34′; Fermin Lopez 24′, Baena 54′, Gutierrez 73′

Spain became the first side to qualify for the quarter-finals at Paris 2024 as they beat 10-man Dominican Republic 3-1.

The Europeans were looking for the three that would see them through to the last eight having beaten Uzbekistan in their opening encounter.

And it took La Roja just 24 minutes to open the scoring as Fermin Lopez capitalised on some wayward goalkeeping to steal the ball and tap into a virtually empty net.

Completely against the run of play however, Dominican Republic struck back as Angel Montes de Oca headed in from a corner.

The Central American side made things difficult for themselves in added time though, as Edson Azcona was given a straight red card after a petulant kick at Pau Cubarsí

Into the second half and Spain made their man advantage count as Alex Baena’s deflected effort wrong-footed the goalkeeper and hit the back of the net.

The three points were then confirmed with 15 minutes remaining as Miguel Gutierrez found space at the back post and tapped in unchallenged.

Games to come

New Zealand v USA

France v Guinea

Sunday sees the women’s competition return with USA facing Germany and Brazil taking on Japan.