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Morocco Beat Argentina In Men’s Olympic Football Opener
On Wednesday, chaos and confusion engulfed the scene as Morocco emerged victorious over Argentina in their opening match of the men’s Olympic football tournament.
Sportxparte reports that Morocco netted two goals in the final minutes after Argentina’s late equalizer was controversially disallowed, leading to the game being abandoned in an empty stadium due to disturbances from the crowd.
Argentina thought they had secured a draw in their match against Group B opponents in Saint-Etienne with a 2-2 scoreline when Cristian Medina scored in the added time of the game.
However, as their team celebrated, debris, such as bottles and plastic cups, began to fall from the stands, and several spectators made their way onto the field, prompting the referee to stop the game.
The teams left the field, but the referee had yet to signal the end of the match, leaving the result uncertain until the teams returned two hours later to play an additional three minutes in a stadium devoid of spectators.
Medina’s goal was ultimately ruled out for offside after a video assistant referee (VAR) review, allowing Morocco to secure all three points.
This was a shameful start to the Olympic football competition in Paris and a disappointing day for Argentina, whose players faced boos as they stepped onto the field and sang the national anthems, with the majority of the crowd supporting Morocco.
This was a stark contrast to the recent controversy surrounding Argentina’s victory in the Copa America, where they were caught singing racist chants.
Argentina aims to win the gold medal in men’s football for the third time, having previously achieved success in 2004 and 2008 but found themselves trailing 2-0 at the start of the match due to goals by Soufiane Rahimi.
Achraf Hakimi, the captain of Morocco and a key player for Paris Saint-Germain, created an opportunity for Rahimi at the start of the match following a brilliant play in the first half’s break.
The current champions of the African Under-23 tournament extended their lead just six minutes into the second half after Rahimi scored from a penalty kick following Ilias Akhomach’s foul.
Coach Mascherano, who led the teams to victory in Athens and Beijing, had considered trying to get Lionel Messi to play as one of the three overage players in his team, which was restricted to those under 23.
However, Messi chose not to participate in the Paris tournament, leaving the most prominent players on his team to be Julian Alvarez from Manchester City and Nicolas Otamendi from Benfica.
Simeone, the son of former Argentine star Diego, entered the game from the bench to score a goal in the second half.
Medina believed he had secured a point in the 106th minute when he saved a goal after Bruno Amione and Nicolas Otamendi both missed shots in a quick sequence of events, but Argentina was ultimately denied.
In the same group, Group B opponents Iraq and Ukraine will face each other in Lyon.
