Soccer-Spain defeats Morocco 2-1 to go to their second consecutive Olympic final

Juanlu Sanchez and Fermin Lopez’s goals in the second half helped Spain defeat Morocco 2-1 at Marseille Stadium on Monday to go to their second consecutive Olympic men’s football final.

Spain rallied from Morocco’s lead to secure the opportunity to better their Tokyo Games silver medal when they play France or Egypt in Friday’s championship match at the Parc des Princes.

Goalkeeper Arnau Tenas told the Spanish daily AS, “It was an intense, tough, complicated, physical match but the team has bounced back in the most difficult match we have had so far.”

“We knew the level of Morocco both defensively and offensively.”

Due to an injury sustained by referee Ilgiz Tantashev, who had to be replaced, the first half was prolonged. In the 37th minute, Morocco took the lead thanks to a penalty kick scored by Soufiane Rahimi, who scored his sixth Olympic goal after Pablo Barrios fouled.

The 28-year-old striker from Al Ain has scored a goal for Morocco in each and every Games game.

After a Spanish player injured his ankle, Uzbekistani Tantashev was unable to continue and was replaced by Glenn Nyberg, the fourth official.

After the half, Spain looked more threatening and equalized in the 66th minute when Lopez of Barcelona took advantage of some careless defense by Morocco to steal the ball in the area and score.

“I want to score goals in every game. The fact that we won and made progress is what matters most, according to 21-year-old midfielder Lopez, who scored twice in the 3-0 quarterfinal victory against Japan.

“From halftime onwards we were ourselves and I think the team deserved the win for our effort.”

Five minutes from time, substitute Sanchez gave the Spanish the lead with a low strike from a tight angle after a nice team play to the right.

“Morocco were pushing hard, they were backed by their fans, but at halftime it was clear to us that we couldn’t let this slip away from us,” Sanchez stated.

“Now it’s time to recover because we have a very nice game in four days.”