Chaos, Crowd Trouble as Morocco Beat Argentina in Olympic Football Opener

AFP/APP

France: The men’s Olympic football tournament’s opening match saw chaos and confusion as Morocco defeated Argentina 2-1. The match was marred by a late equalizer from Argentina being disallowed, crowd disturbances, and the final minutes played in an empty stadium.

Argentina thought they had salvaged a 2-2 draw when Cristian Medina scored in the 16th minute of added time. However, as their players celebrated, projectiles including bottles and plastic cups rained down from the stands, and several spectators stormed the pitch. The referee halted the game as a result.

After a two-hour delay, during which the teams exited the pitch, the match resumed with three more minutes played in an empty stadium. The VAR review ultimately disallowed Medina’s goal for offside, securing a 2-1 victory for Morocco.

The game’s disruptive atmosphere began with Argentina players being booed during their entrance and the national anthem, following recent controversial behavior.

Argentina coach Javier Mascherano criticized the organization, calling it “pathetic” and likening the disarray to a “neighborhood tournament.”

Morocco took an early lead with Soufiane Rahimi scoring twice—once with a goal set up by Achraf Hakimi in first-half stoppage time and again from a penalty in the second half after Ilias Akhomach was fouled. Giuliano Simeone, son of former Argentina star Diego, pulled one back for Argentina midway through the second half.

The disallowed equalizer came in the 106th minute, following frantic moments where Argentina hit the woodwork twice. Argentina will next face Iraq in Lyon on Saturday, who defeated Ukraine 2-1 in their opener.

Other Matches

France, despite missing Kylian Mbappé, started their campaign strongly with a 3-0 victory over the United States. Alexandre Lacazette scored the opener, with Michael Olise and Loïc Badé adding the other goals.

In Group A, New Zealand defeated Guinea 2-1 with Ben Waine scoring the decisive goal.

Spain, silver medallists from Tokyo 2021, won their opener 2-1 against Uzbekistan in Group C. Marc Pubill gave Spain the lead, and despite an equalizer from the penalty spot by Eldor Shomurodov, Sergio Gomez secured the win for Spain.

Japan triumphed 5-0 over 10-man Paraguay in Group D. Meanwhile, Israel and Mali played to a 1-1 draw in a match that proceeded without major incident despite initial security concerns