Le Clash Bitter soccer rivals France and Argentina meet in Olympic quarterfinals amid a racism spat

Paris, Aug 1 (AP) A racism scandal has heightened tension for the Olympic quarterfinal confrontation between bitter football rivals France and Argentina at the Paris Games on Friday.
     There'll likely be booing at the venue in Bordeaux.
     The fallout from a video of Argentina players singing an offensive song about French players of African heritage as they celebrated their Copa America victory last month has become political.
     The derogatory chants singled out France players of African heritage, from several countries, and holding a French passport.
     The same chants — by some Argentinian fans — emerged before Lionel Messi's Argentina team beat France in the World Cup final in 2022.
     The French public has already used an Olympic venue to vent — Argentina's men's rugby sevens players were raucously and constantly booed by a Stade de France crowd of 69,000 during a quarterfinal against the home team. That's extremely rare in rugby.
     France's Olympic soccer coach Thierry Henry didn't want the fracas to take full focus during his pre-match news conference Thursday.
     “I won't talk about that,” said Henry, a member of France's 1998 World Cup-winning squad.
     “There's a desire to only talk about the match. It is important.”
     In the fallout from last month's video, the French soccer federation filed a complaint with soccer's world governing body, which investigated, and it reached political levels.
     Argentine President Javier Milei and French President Emmanuel Macron met in Paris, where they appeared to put aside the controversy.
     The national anthems, shortly before 9 p.m. on Friday night, will offer an indication whether fans have done the same.
     Recent indications suggest otherwise. (AP) AH
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)