An Olympics 2024 Showpiece to Savour

France vs Spain

It’s the Olympic final the majority of football neutrals wanted.

The exciting hosts against the stylish Spanish, whose senior team has just been crowned champions of Europe. It’s not quite the final I predicted, but hey, what do I know?

The SBOTOP Olympics 2024 betting odds were correct at the last four stages, and are worth studying again as France and Spain prepare to clash at the Parc des Princes on Friday.

Talking Points

Les Bleus, who are slight favourites at the Olympics 2024, defeated Argentina 1-0 in a quarter-final grudge match and then Egypt in the semi-final, a 3-1 victory secured after extra time.

Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta scored three of those goals, whilst his former Eagles teammate Michael Olise, who recently signed for Bayern Munich, netted the other.

Mateta has four goals overall, level with Spain’s Barcelona midfielder Fermin Lopez and behind only Morocco forward Soufiane Rahimi with six, which adds another level of interest to the showpiece; this football tournament has certainly produced plenty of Olympics 2024 highlights to date, but there can only be one winner.

Will it be Thierry Henry’s men who are guaranteed a first medal in the tournament in 40 years?

Or will it be Spain and Lopez, who was part of Spain’s victorious Euro 2024 squad and could land a La Roja double?

Spain secured their place in the final after they came from behind to beat Morocco 2-1, and will want to go one better than they did at the Tokyo Olympics when they won their third silver medal, losing 2-1 to Brazil.

The tournament is officially an under-23 event, although countries are allowed three over-age players, and those experienced heads, such as Mateta, can prove the difference.

While that combination of youthful exuberance combined with seasoned experience make them slight favourites, this is a Spanish outfit coached by Santi Denia, who is known for his technical abilities and strategic expertise.

An advantage for the Spaniards is that most of their young Olympic players have also received significant senior minutes in top-flight football too.

Notable players include Juan Miranda, Pau Cubarsi, Eric Garcia, Pablo Barrios, Sergio Gomez and Lopez, all of whom have significant top-flight experience.

It’s all set to be a super final, but, between two golden footballing nations, only one can claim the gold.

Who are you backing?

History

In 37 meetings between the two international teams at senior level, Spain have 17 victories to France’s 13 with a further seven draws.

As well as last month’s Euro 2024 semi-final success for Spain, the most famous meeting was in the final of Euro ‘84 when Michel Platini and Bruno Bellone, with a delightful chipped finish, scored the goals to crown France champions of Europe on their home turf.

Betting Tip

France have the edge with our odds and can be backed 1X2 at 2.35 and Asian Handicap -0.50, also at 2.35, in slight contrast to Spain who are priced 1X2 at2.83 and Asian Handicap 0.00 at 2.21.

The draw is on offer at 2.92.

With so much talent on show, it’s hard to imagine this being a dour, defensive affair so it’s worth considering total goals 2-3 at 1.94, 4-6 at 4.35 and over 2.25 at 2.07, more than, say, total goal 0-1 at 2.53.

If Spain’s juniors can repeat the efforts of their seniors from a month ago at Euro 2024, then Correct Score 1-2 will pay out at 11.50.

My gut instinct says France will claim gold but I am still opting for a bet of half-time-full-time draw-away.

 

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