Football at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament – Group A
Group A of the men's football tournament at the 2020 Summer Olympics was played from 22 to 28 July 2021 in Chōfu's Tokyo Stadium, Saitama's Saitama Stadium, Sapporo's Sapporo Dome and Yokohama's International Stadium Yokohama.[1] The group consisted of France, host nation Japan, Mexico and South Africa.[2] The top two teams, Japan and Mexico, advanced to the knockout stage.[3]
Teams
| Draw position | Team | Pot | Confederation | Method of qualification |
Date of qualification |
Olympic appearance |
Last appearance |
Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 |  Japan |
1 | AFC | Hosts | 7 September 2013 | 11th | 2016 | Bronze medalists (1968) |
| A2 |  South Africa |
3 | CAF | 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations third place | 22 November 2019 | 3rd | 2016 | 11th place (2000) |
| A3 |  Mexico |
2 | CONCACAF | 2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship champions | 30 March 2021 | 12th | 2016 | Gold medalists (2012) |
| A4 |  France |
4 | UEFA | 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship semi-finalists | 27 June 2019 | 13th | 1996 | Gold medalists (1984) |
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japan (H)
|
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Mexico
|
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 6 | |
| 3 | France
|
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 11 | −6 | 3 | |
| 4 | South Africa
|
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 0 |
In the quarter-finals,
- The winners of Group A, Japan, advanced to play the runners-up of Group B, New Zealand.
- The runners-up of Group A, Mexico, advanced to play the winners of Group B, South Korea.
Matches
Mexico vs France
<section begin=A1 />
| Mexico | 4–1 | France |
|---|---|---|
| Report (TOCOG) Report (FIFA) |
Gignac  69' (pen.) |
<section end=A1 />
          Mexico[4]
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    France[4]
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Assistant referees:
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Japan vs South Africa
<section begin=A2 />
| Japan | 1–0 | South Africa |
|---|---|---|
| Kubo 71' |
Report (TOCOG) Report (FIFA) |
<section end=A2 />
   Japan[5]
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     South Africa[5]
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Assistant referees:
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France vs South Africa
<section begin=A3 />
| France | 4–3 | South Africa |
|---|---|---|
| Report (TOCOG) Report (FIFA) |
<section end=A3 />
     France[6]
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South Africa[6]
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Assistant referees:
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Japan vs Mexico
<section begin=A4 />
| Japan | 2–1 | Mexico |
|---|---|---|
| Report (TOCOG) Report (FIFA) |
Alvarado 85' |
<section end=A4 />
Japan[7]
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     Mexico[7]
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Assistant referees:
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France vs Japan
<section begin=A5 />
| France | 0–4 | Japan |
|---|---|---|
| Report (TOCOG) Report (FIFA) |
<section end=A5 />
France[8]
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   Japan[8]
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Assistant referees:
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South Africa vs Mexico
<section begin=A6 />
| South Africa | 0–3 | Mexico |
|---|---|---|
| Report (TOCOG) Report (FIFA) |
<section end=A6 />
South Africa[9]
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Mexico[9]
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Assistant referees:
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Discipline
Fair play points would have been used as a tiebreaker if the overall and head-to-head records of teams were tied. These were calculated based on yellow and red cards received in all group matches as follows:[3]
- first yellow card: minus 1 point;
- indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points;
- direct red card: minus 4 points;
- yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points;
Only one of the above deductions is applied to a player in a single match.
| Team | Match 1 | Match 2 | Match 3 | Points | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Japan
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2 | 2 | 2 | –6 | |||||||||
| South Africa
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2 | 2 | 1 | –8 | |||||||||
| France
|
2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | –10 | ||||||||
| Mexico
|
1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | –12 | ||||||||
References
- ↑ "Tokyo 2020 Olympic Football Tournament: Match Schedule" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
- ↑ "Draws set path to Tokyo 2020 gold". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Regulations for the Olympic Football Tournaments Tokyo 2020" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Tactical Starting Line-up: Match 2, MEX vs FRA" (PDF). Olympics.com. 22 July 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Tactical Starting Line-up: Match 1, JPN vs RSA" (PDF). Olympics.com. 22 July 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Tactical Starting Line-up: Match 10, FRA vs RSA" (PDF). Olympics.com. 25 July 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Tactical Starting Line-up: Match 9, JPN vs MEX" (PDF). Olympics.com. 25 July 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Tactical Starting Line-up: Match 17, FRA vs JPN" (PDF). Olympics.com. 28 July 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Tactical Starting Line-up: Match 18, RSA vs MEX" (PDF). Olympics.com. 28 July 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.