We’ve not yet had the Olympic Games’ opening ceremony, but already the football tournament is already dealing with its second major controversy.
Hot on the heels of the Canada women’s ‘spygate’ incident was a chaotic end to Argentina and Morocco’s opening match in the men’s tournament on Wednesday afternoon.
An exciting game looked to have ended in a 2-2 draw after Argentina’s Crisitan Medina headed the ball home, deep into what had been 15 minutes of stoppage time.
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That ‘goal’ saw Argentinian celebrations ensue and the players soon left the pitch and just prior to television feeds cutting away, a few fans could be seen entering the field of play.
The official Olympic blog reported that the match was over and had ended in a 2-2 draw and television pictures moved on to the next match between Egypt and the Dominican Republic.
But it soon emerged that the match was not actually over, with a message on the screen in Saint-Etienne stating that: “Your session has been suspended. Please make your way to the nearest exit.”
Complete chaos during Morocco v Argentina at the Olympics 😳#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/cXEleGA7TXJuly 24, 2024
Fans left the ground, but then around 90 minutes later, news emerged that Argentina’s equaliser had in fact been disallowed, with the semi-automated VAR system confirming that Argentina’s Bruno Amione was offside in the build-up.
Players and officials then returned to pitch just after 6pm to play out three more minutes in an empty stadium. The final whistle eventually blew, with Morocco securing a 2-1 victory.
The chaotic scenes left players, officials and fans with more questions than answers, with Argentina boss Javier Mascherano fuming about the sequence of events.
“I have not been a coach for long, but never in my career as a player have I seen a situation like that. It is a circus. But that is how it is. It’s a disgrace that this should happen and poison the tournament. This wouldn’t even happen in a neighbourhood tournament. It’s pathetic.
“We were never told that the play [Medina’s goal] was being reviewed, no, no, no,” he said following the eventual conclusion of the game. “The match was suspended because of security. At no time were we told about the review, in fact the official website of the Olympic Games put the match at 2-2.
“The match was suspended because of security, at no time did they talk about the review. Afterwards, when we had no news one hour later, we started to notice strange things. What did the referee tell us? No, no, the referee never came, he never gave us an explanation.”
Messi vía Instagram. pic.twitter.com/5dg4iLe6g4July 24, 2024
Even Lionel Messi, who is not participating in the tournament, weighed in as he posted the word ‘Insolio’ on his Instagram Stories, which translates as ‘unbelievable’, with an embarrassed emoji.
Next up for Argentina is a match against Iraq in Lyon on Saturday, while Morocco take on Ukraine in Saint-Etienne again.
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