Argentina suffered a thrilling encounter in the Olympic men's soccer group stage on Saturday (27), eventually turning back Iraq 3-1 with two goals from Zulian Ivaris, and now have a win and a loss in Group B, still with a glimmer of hope of reaching the last eight. With the second round of the group stage complete, Spain and Japan emerged from Groups C and D respectively, while Uzbekistan became the first team to be eliminated from the group stage.
In the first round of the tournament, Argentina lost 1-2 to Morocco, with Zulian Ivaris helping Thiago Almeida to take the lead with only 13 minutes to go, only to be leveled by Iraq in first-half stoppage time. Argentina then adjusted their tactics and took the lead again after 60 minutes of the second half; in the last five minutes of the match, Zulian Ivaris added another assist and Amioni sealed the win, making the score 3-1.
After the match, Argentina's head coach Mas Jan Llano said: "It was a pretty tough game for us, Iraq are a physical team. In the second half we improved our performance significantly and scored two key goals. We are confident that we can win in the last game. Thanks to the whole team for their hard work and the fans for their support."
Meanwhile, other powerhouses were also victorious, with Spain defeating Dominican Republic 3-1 in Group C and hosts France narrowly defeating Guinea 1-0 in Group A.
