The fans seemed rather chaotic as the match between Morocco and Argentina ended on Wednesday in the Football Olympics 2024, marking Morocco’s victory over the Argentine team with a 2-1 score. The match took place in Saint-Etienne and was followed by a controversy on a denied late equalizer by the South American team and violent fan’ behaviour that resulted in the final stage of the match being played behind closed doors, which is a rare event at the football Olympics.
The Argentine team was shortly on the verge of getting a 2-2 score when Cristian Medina took a goal in the 16th added time. However, as the Argentine players rejoiced, a commotion ensued in their 2024 football Olympics game. Objects such as bottles and cups were thrown toward the giant external screen, and some audience members jumped onto the playing field. As a result, the referee called for the stoppage of play by blowing the whistle.
The referee did not signal full-time, and there were disagreements as both teams walked off the field. Subsequently, they came back to the field and only replayed the three minutes after the two-hour break in a stadium where the audience had left. VAR resulted in the disallowance of the goal for the offside and, thus, helped Morocco get all three points.
The chaotic climax, thus, signified an ill-befitting beginning of the sporting events of the Paris Games and a tough phase for Argentina… Some of the Argentine players faced jeers from a Moroccan supporting audience when they entered the field and started with national anthems. This unfriendly welcome came on the back of a video of Argentina players allegedly singing obscene chants recently after winning the Copa America.
However, with an intention to achieve the third consecutive Olympic gold in men’s football, similar to the 2004 and 2008 miracles, they were down by 2-0 with the goals scored by Soufiane Rahimi. The Moroccan captain was involved in dribbling a PSG full-back, Achraf Hakimi, as Rahimi scored the opener when PSG was enjoying first-half stoppage time.
Morocco, however, proved to be a very strong and competitive team that should have easily deservingly won the match, even with the embarrassment that surrounded the match.
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