LYON: Thierry Henry won almost everything possible in a glittering career as a player and is now “living a dream” as a coach after leading hosts France to the final of the Olympic men’s football.
France are aiming to win gold for the second time, 40 years after their triumph in Los Angeles, and will face Spain in the final after narrowly avoiding a shock defeat against Egypt on Monday.
Henry’s team were trailing 1-0 in the semifinal in Lyon but came back to win 3-1, with Jean-Philippe Mateta equalising to force extra time and then scoring again in the 99th minute before Michael Olize sealed the victory.
“I am going to be honest, I am mainly happy for Team France because when you see everyone picking up medals all over the place, you say to yourself that you can’t let them down,” Henry said.
“You don’t want to be the team that doesn’t win a medal, so at least that is done, and now we will see what color we get.
“But honestly I am living a dream and I don’t want to wake up.”
Henry, who won the Champions League with Barcelona and both the World Cup and European Championship with France as a player, was appointed coach of France’s Under-21 and Olympic teams just under a year ago.
The 46-year-old will now lead them out on Friday in the final at the Parc des Princes, the same ground where France beat Spain in the final of the 1984 European Championship just weeks before their only Olympic victory to date.
“You know how difficult it is going to be against them. They are often in the finals of competitions, in both men’s and women’s football,” Henry added of the Tokyo Olympic silver medallists who beat Morocco 2-1 in their semifinal.
France are guaranteed a medal after making the final despite failing to enrol the services of full national team captain Kylian Mbappe and vice-captain Antoine Griezmann for the Olympic tournament.
Instead they have been led from the front by Lyon’s former Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette, while their star man in the knockout rounds has been Mateta.
He scored 16 goals in the Premier League last season for Crystal Palace, including 14 in his last 16 games.
Now he is France’s top scorer at the Games with four goals, among them the winner in a fiery quarter-final against Argentina and his double against Egypt.
“It is a dream to be in the final and I can’t wait to be in Paris,” said Mateta, who comes from the suburbs of the French capital.
“We have been talking about the Games for a year and a half now and finally we get to go to Paris.”
Henry ‘living a dream’ as France reach Olympic men’s football final
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Henry ‘living a dream’ as France reach Olympic men’s football final
Own goal enough for Al-Ahli as Matchday 24 win keeps pressure on Al-Nassr
- Al-Ahli eke out 1-0 win over Al-Riyadh to keep pressure on Al-Nassr
- Milan Borjan own goal separated the sides at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium
RIYADH: Matchday 24 of the Saudi Pro League kicked off on Thursday, less than 24 hours after the conclusion of the delayed Matchday 10. With the FIFA Arab Cup, World Cup Qualifiers and FIFA World Cup sandwiching the 2025/26 campaign, resting periods have been few and far between outside the international breaks.
With fixtures coming thick and fast, Al-Ahli opted to rest Riyad Mahrez and Enzo Millot for their clash with Al-Riyadh in the capital. Ramadan has further challenged the league schedule, with Matthias Jaissle’s side only arriving in Riyadh at 5:30pm — just hours before kick-off.
With their previous outing against Damac still dominating conversation, Jaissle was keen to ensure his players did not fall into the same trap — namely, being caught off guard by an opponent’s unexpectedly proactive style.
To his relief, Al-Ahli were largely in control this time. Yet the absence of Mahrez limited their creative spark. Relying heavily on Wenderson Galeno down the left, Al-Riyadh did well to crowd the Brazilian and deny him space to operate.
The bane of any expansive side is a compact 5-4-1, and that is precisely how Al-Riyadh’s recently appointed Brazilian manager Mauricio Dulac set his team up. A long-time assistant to former Al-Riyadh coach Odair Hellmann, this marks Dulac’s first managerial role.
Al-Ahli’s attacking routes were severely restricted throughout the first half. Al-Riyadh denied them the opportunity to press high, Mahrez’s trademark diagonals were absent, and finding Ivan Toney in the six-yard box proved a difficult task.
On the rare occasions the visitors broke the defensive line, Milan Borjan stood firm in goal — there was no getting past the Canadian.
That was until first-half stoppage time. Al-Ahli had one more weapon in their arsenal: set-pieces. A lofted delivery from Galeno’s free-kick met the head of Roger Ibañez, who nodded the ball towards goal. Borjan pushed it away, but it was too late — the ball crossed the line.
VAR intervened within seconds. Ibañez was a shoulder offside, and the opener was chalked off. It was a notable twist, particulary as the simultaneous fixture between Al-Fateh and Damac in Al-Ahsa featured a celebration aimed squarely at Al-Ahli and VAR.
Earlier in the week, Damac equalised late against Al-Ahli via Yakou Méïté, only for the goal to be overturned. Méïté reacted angrily and lashed out at referees, but Al-Ahli escaped with the three points. Méïté followed up with a goal against Al-Fateh, and celebrated by mimicking the referee’s VAR signal.
Back in Riyadh, Al-Ahli returned for the second half with renewed intensity. Zakaria Hawsawi grew more adventurous from left-back, threading lofted balls over the Al-Riyadh defence.
In the 53rd minute, he found Toney behind the last defender, but the Englishman’s volley was adeptly saved by Borjan. Five minutes later, Galeno latched onto Hawsawi’s cross and thought he had broken the deadlock — only for the linesman’s flag to rise once again.
Al-Ahli pushed, but as time ticked away, it seemed the coveted winner would elude them. However, once again, set pieces proved decisive.
In the 75th minute, a corner from Saleh Abu Al-Shamat was parried by Borjan, only for his effort to be bundled into his own net, sending the travelling supporters into a frenzy.
After last week’s scare, Al-Ahli knew they had to finish the job. Cue Ibañez, who surged forward from deep before slipping the ball through to Toney to seal the game with what would have been his 24th goal of the season. The run itself deserved a goal, but Toney was flagged inches offside.
Despite another difficult outing, Al-Ahli did enough to secure a clean sheet and grind out a 1-0 victory to move top on 59 points — one ahead of Al-Nassr, who are yet to play this weekend.
Elsewhere, Méïté’s equaliser was later cancelled out by a 77th-minute Mourad Batna penalty, in a match that saw fans commemorate him for surpassing 100 goal contributions with Al-Fateh.
Batna had earlier missed from the spot to the frustation of the home fans, but Al-Fateh’s undefeated streak against Damac at home remains intact as the encounter ended 1-1.
Saudi Pro League action resumes on Friday, with Al-Hazem hosting Al-Ettifaq, Al-Ittihad welcoming Al-Khaleej, and one of Riyadh’s top derbies in Al-Shabab and Al-Hilal. All games kick-off at 10:00pm, in the league’s unified Ramadan schedule.
