Spain clinch a narrow victory over Australia in the Olympic football match

SPAIN clinch a narrow victory in the Olympic men’s football competition against Australia

Spain were up against Australia in the early hours of Sunday morning (July 25), in the Sapporo Dome in Tokyo, hoping to improve on their first Group C match showing last Thursday, where they played out a pretty dismal goalless draw against Egypt.

With a starting XI that included six players who had represented the national team in the Euro 2020 semi-final, one would think that enough to overcome an Australian side, as it provides evidence of the strength the Spanish Olympic coach, Luis De La Fuente has at his disposal in these Games, as they go for the gold medal.

Australia had started their campaign with a 2-0 victory over Argentina, so Spain needed a result here if they were going to progress, and a 1-0 win was enough to clinch the points, even if it didn’t come until the 81st minute, courtesy of Real Sociedad’s Mikel Oyarzabal, after an assist from substitute Marco Asensio.

Oyarzabal’s goal was, in fact, Spain’s first in Olympic football for 21 years, but, with Argentina coming up in the final group match, Spain now have four points, meaning a draw with the Argentines will be enough to take them through.

Luis de la Fuente had gone with a 4-3-3 lineup for this match, and with Australia at times lining up nine players across the back, it was little wonder that the Spanish struggled to find a way through, but both Pedri, and Soler came close to hitting the target, as Spain totally dominated the match, with the Australians not even having a shot on Unai Emery’s goal.

🏁 ¡¡FINAAAAAAL DEL ENCUENTRO!!

💪🏻 ¡¡El trabajo incansable de la @SeFutbol tiene premio!!

🙌🏻 Victoria importantísima en la segunda jornada de los #JuegosOlímpicos.

👏🏻 Nuestro combinado nacional llegará a la última fecha como líder del Grupo C.

🇦🇺🆚🇪🇸 | 0-1 | 90+5'#Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/wjRK9yOr9A

— Selección Española Masculina de Fútbol (@SEFutbol) July 25, 2021

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