France, Argentina suffer shock defeats, Spain held

TOKYO (Reuters): France’s Olympic men’s soccer campaign got off to a disastrous start when they were thrashed 4-1 by Mexico while Argentina suffered a shock 2-0 loss to Australia as the group stage kicked off yesterday.

Sylvain Ripoll’s France, chasing a first Olympic medal since winning gold in 1984, collapsed in the second half when Alexis Vega, Sebastian Cordova, Uriel Antuna and Erick Aguirre found the net for Mexico at the Tokyo Stadium.

France now face a daunting task to qualify from Group A with a top-two finish, ahead of games against South Africa on Sunday and hosts Japan.

Elsewhere in Group D, Franck Kessie scored the winner to earn Ivory Coast a 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia in a heated game in Yokohama, the sides committing 27 fouls between them.

In Group B, Burnley striker Chris Wood fired a late goal to help New Zealand beat South Korea 1-0 in Kashima – earning the Pacific island nation their first win in Olympic men’s soccer.