Sport

Key things you need to know about men’s football at Paris Olympics

First up on Wednesday will be Uzbekistan vs Spain. This match will be broadcast live on Ariana Television from 5.30pm Kabul time.

Published

9 months ago

July 24, 2024

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: )

Today, Wednesday July 24, is the day millions of people worldwide have been waiting for. It’s the start of the Paris Olympic Games 2024.

While the Games will officially only start on Friday, July 26, Football group stage matches will kick off Wednesday, and Rugby Sevens group stage matches will take place on Thursday.

First up on Wednesday will be Uzbekistan vs Spain. This match will be broadcast live on Ariana Television from 5.30pm Kabul time.

This match will be followed at 7.30 pm Kabul time by the Guinea vs New Zealand match and then at 9.30pm, Japan will take on Paraguay. At 11.30pm, host nation France will play USA.

These matches will all be broadcast live, and legally, across Afghanistan on Ariana Television.

What you need to know about men’s football at the Games!

Men’s football action at the Olympic Games will take place from 24 July to 9 August.

The 16 best youth teams in the world are boosted by the inclusion of some superstar over-age players, in what’s likely to be an unpredictable event.

Olympic men’s squads must consist of players under the age of 23, with three overage players allowed as part of the 18-man squads.

Back-to-back reigning Olympic champions Brazil did not qualify for Paris but the standout teams involved include Argentina, Spain, and hosts France.

Sixteen teams are divided into four groups of four. Each nation plays against all the other teams in their group, with the top two in each group progressing to the knockout stages.

Group A: France, USA, Guinea, New Zealand
Group B: Argentina, Morocco, Iraq, Ukraine
Group C: Uzbekistan, Spain, Egypt, Dominican Republic
Group D: Japan, Paraguay, Mali, Israel

Stars to watch!

Hosts France will be led by captain Alexandre Lacazette, the former Arsenal man now back at boyhood club Olympique Lyonnais.

Naby Keita, Champions League winner with Liverpool in 2019, will also be captaining his nation of Guinea in Paris.

Argentina can count on four players who won the 2022 FIFA World Cup: Julian Alvarez, Nicolas Otamendi, Geronimo Rulli and Thiago Almada.

The quartet will try to write history as the first male players to win the FIFA World Cup and then Olympic gold, in that order, a unique feat in football.

Two new European champions, Fermin Lopez and Alex Baena, are aiming for more glory with Spain and trying to improve on the nation’s silver medal at Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021).

Achraf Hakimi will be determined to lead Morocco to the gold medal match, as it will be hosted at the PSG star’s home stadium, the Parc des Princes.

Along with Lopez and Baena, Ukraine’s Maksym Taloverov are playing at Paris 2024 having already lined up for Euro 2024 in a busy summer of football.

There are also plenty of big names who will be leading their nations from the sidelines.

France are managed by French football legend and Olympic Torchbearer Thierry Henry, while Argentina’s two-time Olympic champion Javier Mascherano is aiming to become the first man to win the Olympic men’s football tournament as a player and a coach.

Javier Mascherano won two gold medals with Argentina at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

Where are the matches taking place?

Men’s football games will take place in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne, Nice, and Nantes.

The gold medal match will be played at the Parc des Princes in Paris on 9 August.

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Patel and Mendis help Sunrisers beat Kings in Dhoni’s 400th T20

Fast bowler Harshal Patel grabbed four wickets and Kamindu Mendis showed his allround skill as Sunrisers Hyderabad upstaged Chennai Super Kings by five wickets in Chennai on Friday.

Published

2 days ago

April 26, 2025

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: )

Patel grabbed 4-28 and was ably assisted by skipper Pat Cummins and Jaydev Unadkat — both finishing with identical figures of 2-21 — to dismiss the home team for a below-par 154 in 19.5 overs.

South African youngster Dewald Brevis was the top scorer for the Kings with a blistering 25-ball 42, cracking four sixes and a boundary on his debut for the franchise.

Skipper M.S. Dhoni failed to make his 400th T20 a memorable occasion, managing just six runs and coming out on the losing side.

Sunrisers achieved the target in 18.4 overs for the loss of five wickets with Ishan Kishan leading the way with a solid 34-ball 44 with five boundaries and a six.

Mendis struck an unbeaten 32 off 22 balls, adding 49 in an unbroken sixth wicket stand with Nitish Kumar Reddy who finished with a 13-ball 19 not out.

The victory lifted Sunrisers to eighth on the 10-team table topped by Gujrat Titans with 12 points in eight matches while five-time champions Kings are at the bottom with four points in nine.

Patel, declared man-of-the-match, attributed discipline as the key for his fine bowling.

“I figured out pretty early that hitting it on a good length around the stumps was important because it was hard to hit with the horizontal bat,” said Patel.

Dhoni blamed losing a cluster of wickets for the poor batting show.

“I think we kept losing wickets and another thing is in the first innings the wicket was slightly better,” said Dhoni. “A total of 157 wasn’t a justifiable score.”

Earlier, Chennai Super Kings were rocked by Sunrisers’s pacer Patel who ripped through the middle and lower-order batting.

The home team started on a wrong note when opener Shaik Rasheed was caught in the slip off the very first delivery of the match by fast bowler Mohammad Shami.

Seventee-year-old Ayush Mhatre was impressive in his 19-ball 30, which was studded with six boundaries, while Ravindra Jadeja managed 21 with a six and a boundary.

Jadeja’s dismissal brought Dhoni to the crease as the crowd roared to welcome their hero in his 400th T20 match but Dhoni’s stay lasted for just ten balls.

It was Brevis who assured Kings get past 150 with some lusty hitting.

Deepak Hooda also chipped in with a 21-ball 22 with a six and a boundary.

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Sri Lanka A defeats Afghanistan A by 4 wickets in Abu Dhabi

Published

4 days ago

April 23, 2025

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: )

Afghanistan A was defeated by Sri Lanka A with a margin of four wickets in the ongoing 50-over tri-nation cricket series.

The match was held on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Afghanistan had previously lost one match against Ireland and another against Sri Lanka in this series.

Batting first, the Afghan team set a target of 229 runs after losing eight wickets.

In response, Sri Lanka A chased down the target, losing six wickets.

Sport

Afghanistan qualify for U19 Cricket World Cup 2026

Published

1 week ago

April 19, 2025

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: )

Afghanistan’s U19 cricket team has officially qualified for the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup 2026, following the final day washout in the Asia Qualifiers.

After securing three big wins in their first three games, today’s match against Nepal U19s was washed out. Thanks to their superior Net Run Rate, Afghanistan U19s topped the table and book their berth in the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup 2026, which will take place early next year in Namibia and Zimbabwe.