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Men's soccer gold medal match: France vs. Spain odds, picks and predictions
By Nathan Beighle,
6 hours ago
Spain battles France in the men’s soccer gold medal match Friday at Parc des Princes in Paris. Kickoff is set for noon p.m. ET (Peacock, USA Network, Telemundo). Below, we preview FanDuel Sportsbook’s lines around the France vs. Spain odds, and make our expert Summer Olympic picks and predictions.
France has had an impressive run in the Olympics. It opened up the group stage with a 3-0 shutout of the USMNT and continued its dominance with a 1-0 win vs. Guinea and a 3-0 blanking of New Zealand. France took down Argentina 1-0 in a heated quarterfinal battle before defeating Egypt 3-1 in extra time in a semifinal. F Jean-Philippe Mateta leads the host nation with 4 goals its 5 games.
Spain hasn’t been as impressive but still won when it needed to. It beat Uzbekistan 2-1 and the Dominican Republic 3-1 in its first 2 group stage matches before losing 2-1 to Egypt. In the knockout rounds, Spain shut out Japan 3-0 in the quarterfinals and took down Morocco 2-1 in the semifinals. Spain has been led by 21-year-old Barcelona F Fermin Lopez, who has 4 goals in 5 games as well.
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Simply put, Spain hasn’t looked nearly as impressive as France. Spain trailed Morocco 1-0 in its semifinal match until Lopez scored the equalizer in the 65th minute. Twenty minutes later, MF Juanlu Sanchez scored the game winner. Both teams had 14 shots, while Spain had a 5-1 advantage in shots on goal. Spain also came up short against Egypt in the group stage, having 4 fewer shots on goal and 4 fewer shots in general in that match.
While France recorded clean sheets in its first 4 matches, it did give up a goal and trailed 1-0 in its semifinal victory vs. Egypt before hitting the equalizer in the 83rd minute. France would score twice in extra time to advance to this gold medal match. The French had an dominant win over the USMNT, a team that also made the knockout stage. Expect France’s dominance to continue, especially in front of a rocking home crowd.
France has gone Under 1.5 in 2 of its last 4 Olympic matches. We’ve already discussed the host nation’s 4 shutout victories, while it allowed just 1 goal through its 5 matches.
Spain’s defense hasn’t been as formidable, allowing a goal in 4 of its 5 Olympic matches, but it has allowed just 1 or fewer goals in 4 of 5.
Both sides have technical expertise which should lead to longer possessions. Given the strength and pace of the French defense and its style of play, BET UNDER 1.5 (+192).
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