Honours even, an incendiary situation well managed by France’s authorities, and a question mark that will not fade easily into the Parisian night. A 1-1 draw between Israel and Mali meant that, football-wise, nobody had too much to complain about and ensured a high-risk occasion passed with only the smallest of aggravations. Nobody wanted to see anything else; the security conundrum was answered comprehensively but the sporting question surrounding Israel has no chance of disappearing quickly.
The buildup had been fraught with concerns about what Israel’s first Olympic football tie since 1976 would bring. Their continued presence on the international stage remains divisive at best; deeply troubling at worst if the substantial body of evidence submitted to Fifa on behalf of Palestine’s football association, requesting that Israel is banned for violating the governing body’s statutes amid the war in Gaza, holds water.
Fifa kicked that can down the road last week, putting off a decision on Israel’s future until the end of August. It meant they were free to compete here, a strange and headache-inducing preoccupation for organisers in a branch of the Games that has historically been low key. Guy Luzon’s players, part of a wider Israeli delegation operating under 24-hour protection over the next two and a half weeks, had avoided questions about politics on Tuesday but this affair was never likely to dodge its darker context.
In the end local law enforcement will reflect on what was, given the serious concerns that had dogged the match ever since it had been drawn out, a job efficiently done. Flashpoints proved minor and stood no chance of filtering on to the pitch, although there were crackles of tension in the half-full stands. Before kick-off a group of masked individuals wearing T-shirts spelling out “Free Palestine” took their places in the stadium’s north corner, setting off a flare and appearing to depart as swiftly as they had materialised.
As the half-hour approached, with both teams putting on a display of fast counterattacking and inadequate finishing, around 10 spectators convened above an entrance in an area usually reserved for VIPs at Paris Saint-Germain games. They hung a Palestine flag from the railing overlooking the pitch; another was held aloft while handheld fans and inflatables painted as watermelons, seen as a symbol of Palestinian resistance, were waved.
It caused visible and audible consternation among a pocket of Israel supporters to their left, which briefly threatened to spill over at half-time before security personnel brokered a measure of calm. The protestors were allowed to remain: Palestine has been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1995 and staff appeared to explain that there was no justification for the flag’s removal.
That was as heated as the night got and, in truth, it is an eventuality for which the organisers would almost certainly have signed up. There had been little sense in the streets around the Parc des Princes that any large-scale demonstration or violence would take hold. If anything the perimeter was eerily quiet; Israeli visitors mixed harmlessly enough with their counterparts from Mali, who have a large constituency in Paris, and children played a pick-up game on an adjacent concrete pitch. Some locals spoke, anecdotally, of having acquaintances who had given up tickets for the game when faced with the potential spectre of trouble.
Such a muted feeling was a far cry from the scene three and a half hours before the start, when a carnival of several hundred Uzbekistan supporters had danced out of the ground in an scene of colour and song. They had just seen their side, making its Olympic football debut, lose 2-1 against Spain while deserving at least a draw. The afternoon’s fixture here had felt wholesome throughout with a noticeable proportion of families adding to the atmosphere, even if a brief security scare had caused some of them to be queuing outside as kick-off approached.
While the Uzbek influx continued their party, around the corner on Boulevard Murat was ample evidence that the serious business lay ahead. Police vehicles lined the street down to Porte de Saint-Cloud, where some supporters began to gather in roadside bistros while others trickled up from the metro.
Just before 6.30pm a cavalcade of gendarmerie vans skirted the roundabout and headed towards the stadium. Outside the stands, the French interior minister Gérald Darmanin held a lengthy audience. “We owe this security to the whole world,” he said. “The threats to our country are the threats that concern the western world.”
Inside, on a surface surrounded by zig-zagging metal fences that are not usually a feature here, the teams traded second-half goals. The unfortunate Hamidou Diallo put through his own net just before the hour, sparking ecstasy among Israel’s contingent, but Cheickna Doumbia quickly levelled with a thudding header. Chances to win it came and went; the Israel midfielder Oscar Gloukh, of Red Bull Salzburg, missed one of the better openings and the prevailing sense at full-time was of relief.
