PREVIEW | Japan stand in Spain’s way for a shot at Olympic medals
The famous phrase from 'The Little Prince', whose author, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, was born in the French city of Lyon, says that "what is essential is what is invisible to the eye". The team is ready, excited and eager to win, all essential to continue on the road to the race for a medal, and to do so they will have to overcome Japan in the quarter-finals of the Paris 2024 Olympic Football Tournament. With the help of the essentials, the best version of the team coached by Santi Denia must be visible. The dream of fighting for the medals is just one step away.
Japan-Spain, at 17.00 (RTVE and Eurosport)
Spain and Japan will meet again on the Olympic road three years since their last encounter on this stage. On 3 August 2021 in Saitama, the Olympic team beat the hosts by one goal to nil to reach the final of the Tokyo Games. On this occasion, the two teams will meet in the quarter-finals.
Spain have made it through to the quarter-finals after two victories in the three matches played so far. After beating Uzbekistan and the Dominican Republic and suffering a narrow defeat against Egypt with a much changed starting lineup.
Six Spanish players have scored so far in these Games: Marc Pubill, Sergio Gómez, Fermín López, Álex Baena, Miguel Gutiérrez and Samu Omorodion.
The Japanese arrive in Lyon unbeaten and unpenetrated, having won all their group matches without conceding a single goal. These figures reflect the defensive strength of this team, something that Spanish national team coach Santi Denia highlighted in the build-up to the match: "They have a good defensive structure, then they attack very well too, with a lot of mobility and quality. We have to do things almost perfectly to be able to win the match".
The Stade de Lyon is the venue for the match and is the stadium with the largest capacity at the Paris 2024 Football Tournament (59,186 spectators).
Mauritanian referee Dahane Beida, who officiated Spain's Games opener against Uzbekistan in Paris, will take charge of the match at the Stade de Lyon.
