Sanchez shines as Spain end Morocco’s dream run

Juanlu Sanchez came off the bench to fire Spain to a record-equaling fifth Olympic men’s soccer final on Monday.

Sanchez struck in the 85th minute at Stade de Marseille to seal a 2-1 win over Morocco and set up a final against either France or Egypt.

Morocco led 1-0 at halftime after the tournament’s leading scorer Soufiane Rahimi converted a penalty in the 37th.

Spain evened the score in the 65th after Fermin Lopez showed quick feet in the box and fired a left-footed shot low in the bottom corner. It was the Barcelona midfielder’s fourth goal of the tournament and over-exuberant celebrations earned him a yellow card after kicking the corner flag and breaking it in two.

It was Lopez’s assist that set up Sanchez to sweep his winning goal low into the far corner.

Spain, which won gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, was the beaten finalist at the Tokyo Games three years ago when it lost to Brazil.

The first substitution made in the Olympics men’s soccer semifinal match between Morocco and Spain on Monday was the referee.

The ref, Ilgiz Tantashev of Uzbekistan, limped off the field 15 minutes into the match shortly after he was inadvertently knocked down by Spain defender Marc Pubill near midfield.

Pubill appeared to be pushed by a Moroccan player. He tumbled forward and into Tantashev’s right leg. Play was stopped for a few minutes while Tantashev received treatment.

But the referee couldn’t continue and was replaced by fourth official Glenn Nyberg of Sweden.

Meanwhile, World Cup holders Spain and four-time gold medallists the United States are on course for a showdown in the Olympic women’s football final with the two heavyweights favourites to win on Tuesday.

Led by reigning Ballon d’Or Aitana Bonmati, Spain face surprise semi-finalists Brazil in Marseille while a rejuvenated USA under new coach Emma Hayes meet Germany in Lyon.

The Americans are the traditional powerhouse of women’s international football and their performances at the Olympics suggest they are back as a force after a disappointing World Cup last year.

Hayes only took over in May and is still getting to know her team but the USA topped their group with three wins from three and edged an impressive Japan after extra time in the quarter-finals, with Trinity Rodman scoring the crucial goal.

They have already beaten Germany in the tournament, and that 4-1 thumping in Marseille in the group stage suggests they should fancy their chances of winning through to the gold medal match in Paris on Saturday.

“We are so confident going into games. That comes from Emma. She believes in us so much,” said the forward Sophia Smith when asked about the impact of the new coach.

Hayes, 47, arrived after over a decade of success at Chelsea and is hoping to lead the USA to a record-extending fifth gold since women’s football was introduced at the Olympics in 1996. They last won the title in 2012.

“I coached Chelsea for 12 years. I am not going to be disappointed at anything this team does because I respect football at the top level, and for us to arrive tactically at the place we have so quickly is real credit to the players,” the coach said of her new charges.

Germany were gold medallists in 2016, the one Olympics in which the USA did not win any medal in women’s football.

Under Horst Hrubesch, they finished second in their group behind the USA and then edged out reigning Olympic champions Canada on penalties in the quarter-finals.

Goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, who played under Hayes at Chelsea, was the star against Canada as she saved two penalties in the shoot-out before converting the winning kick herself.

“It was a very tough game, but when it went to the shootout, I knew we had a great goalkeeper. It gave us confidence, and she got us the victory,” defender Kathrin Hendrich told FIFA.com.

Agencies