Men's Olympics: Mexico falls to host Japan while Honduras rebounds against New Zealand

• by Mike Woitalla  @MikeWoitalla, Jul 26, 2021

Host Japan is the only team with two wins after the first two rounds of group play, thanks to a 2-1 win over Mexico, which started with a 4-1 victory over France. Concacaf's other entry, Honduras, beat New Zealand, 3-2, after opening with a 1-0 loss to Romania. Saudi Arabia is the only of the 16 teams already out of contention to reach the knockout stage.

• Defending gold medal winners Brazil followed up on a big win over Germany with a scoreless tie against Ivory Coast. The Germans bounced back by beating Saudi Arabia, 3-2.

• There were four red cards on Matchday 2: Mexico's Johan Vásquez in the 68th minute while his team was trailing 2-0, in the game that ended 2-1. Romania's Ion Gheorghe in the 45th minute with his team trailing 1-0 on an own goal in its 4-0 loss to South Korea. Germany's Amos Pieper in the 67th minute with the score tied 2-2, seven minutes before Germany scored its winner. In the Brazil-Ivory Coast stalemate, Brazil's Douglas Luiz was ejected in the 14th minute and Kouassi Eboue of Ivory Coast in the 79th.

• André-Pierre Gignac, who scored France's only goal in its opening loss to Mexico, scored a hat trick in the 4-3 win over South Africa.

• Luis Palma and Juan Carlos Obregón Jr, who scored in the 2-1 win over the USA that knocked it out of Olympic qualifying, scored in the 3-2 win over New Zealand. Rigoberto Rivas, who also played against the USA in the Concacaf U-23 Championship semifinal, scored the winning goal.

Numbers:
2.81. Average goals per game over first two matchdays.

Men's soccer:
Group A: Japan 6 pts., Mexico 3, France 3, South Africa 0.
Group B: South Korea 3, Honduras 3, New Zealand 3, Romania 3. 
Group C: Spain 4, Australia 3, Argentina 3, Egypt 1.
Group D: Brazil 4, Ivory Coast 4, Germany 3, Saudi Arabia 0.

Matchday 1
Thursday, July 22
Group A Mexico 4 France 1 (Goals: Vega 47, Cordova 55, Antuna 80, Aguirre 90+1; Gignac, pen. 69)
Japan 1 South Africa 0 (Goal: Kubo 71)
Group B New Zealand 1 South Korea 0 (Goal: Wood 70)
Romania 1 Honduras 0 (Goal: own goal, 45+1)
Group C Egypt 0 Spain 0
Australia 2 Argentina 0 (Goals: Wales 14, Tilio 80)
Group D Ivory Coast 2 Saudi Arabia 1 (Goals: own goal 39, Kessie 66; Al Dawsari 44)
Brazil 4 Germany 2 (Goals: Richarlison 7, 22, 30, Paulinho 90+5; Amiri 57, Ache 84)

Matchday 2
Sunday, July 25
Group A  France 4 South Africa 3 (Goals: Gignac 57, 78, pen. 86; Savanier 90+2; Kodisang 53, Makgopa 7, Mokoena 82)
Japan 2 Mexico 1 (Goals: Kubo 6, Doan pen. 12; Alvarado 85)
Group B Honduras 3 New Zealand 2 (Goals: Palma 45, Obregon Jr. 78, Rivas 87; Cacace 10, Wood 49)
South Korea 4 Romania 0 (Goals: own goal 27; Um Won-Sang 59, Kang-In Lee 84 pen. 90)
Group C Argentina 1 Egypt 0 (Goal: Medina 52)
Spain 1 Australia 0 (Goal: Oyarzabal 81)
Group D Germany 3 Saudi Arabia 2 (Goals: Amiri 12, Ache 43, Uduokhai 75; Al-Naji 30, 50)
Brazil 0 Ivory Coast 0

Matchday 3
Wednesday, July 28
Saudi Arabia vs. Brazil (Saitama) 4 am ET
Germany vs. Ivory Coast (Rifu) 4 am ET
Romania vs. New Zealand (Sapporo) 4:30 am ET
South Korea vs. Honduras (Yokohama) 4:30 am ET
Australia vs. Egypt (Rifu) 7 am ET
Spain vs. Argentina (Saitama) 7 am ET
France vs. Japan (Yokohama) 7:30 am ET
South Africa vs. Mexico (Sapporo) 7:30 am ET

Quarterfinals
Saturday, July 31
1C vs. 2D (Rifu) 4 am ET
1A vs. 2B (Kashima) 5 am ET
1D vs. 2C (Saitama) 6 am ET
1B vs. 2A (Yokohama) 7 am E

Semifinals
Tuesday, August 3
1A/2B vs. 1C/2D (Saitama) 4 am ET
1B/2A vs. 1D/2C (Kashima) 7 am. ET

Bronze-medal game
Friday, August 6
(Saitama) 7 am. ET

Gold-medal game
Saturday, August 7 (Friday kickoff in Japan)
(Yokohama) 7:30 am. ET