In the late afternoon of July 31st, an intriguing quarter-final match was played at exactly 16:00 in the soccer stadium of the Tokyo Olympics. The match between the Spanish Olympic team and the Ivorian Olympic team is undoubtedly an even match.
Although the Spanish national Olympics emerged from the group stage with one win and two draws, such a record is clearly not good enough for a team that is a favorite to win the championship. They were in a group with the likes of Egypt, Argentina and Australia, but it wasn't a strong one.
The Ivorian national Olympic team, on the other hand, showed amazing dark horse strength, and despite being in the same group as the favorites such as Brazil and Germany, they advanced to second place in the group by virtue of their outstanding performance of one win and two draws in three matches.
The Spanish national Olympic team has Barcelona's new star Pedri and Real Madrid's new star Asensio, however, in the group stage, these two stars did not show their due strength.
The game started with a quick attack by the Spanish Olympic team, but the Ivory Coast was not to be outdone, and the two sides went back and forth in a very intense scene.
However, in the 8th minute, Spain's national team midfielder Minguessa left the field with an injury, which undoubtedly gave Côte d'Ivoire an opportunity to take advantage of the situation. In the 8th minute, Ivory Coast took a 1:0 lead with a header from an unmarked Bailly off a corner kick.
Although the Spanish national team equalized in the 30th minute, the Ivorians gradually dominated the field in the second half. In the 92nd minute, substitute Rafa Mir scored the equalizer for the Spanish national team.
Going into extra time, the Spanish national team advanced to the semifinals with a 5-2 win over Côte d'Ivoire thanks to a penalty kick from Oyazabal and a hat trick from Rafa Mir.
It is worth mentioning that in this year's summer window, Barcelona was interested in exchanging Griezmann and Atletico Madrid for Saur, but ultimately failed to come to fruition. And Marca news said that Simeone is interested in bringing in Rafa Mir, the 24-year-old Wolves player in last year's La Liga game performance, scored 16 goals.
