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July 25 2024
Argentina vs Morocco: The "Argentina vs Morocco" opening match at the Olympics on Wednesday turned chaotic when fans suddenly stormed the pitch, creating an unexpected scene. Argentina seemed to have salvaged a 2-2 draw with Cristian Medina's last-minute goal, but after a lengthy VAR review, they were handed a 2-1 loss. The game resumed in an empty stadium, finalizing the unexpected outcome.
Pictures emerged of some Argentine players being dragged after what looked like a flare was thrown. Bottles and cups were strewn across the field at the end.
The Olympics website pointed out that the match had a "pause."
About an hour after the incident, the organizers at the venue confirmed that the match was still ongoing and hadn't officially finished. Players were kept in the stadium waiting for play to resume. The video board notified fans that the match was on hold and instructed them to exit the stadium.
The boxscore on the Olympics' media website said Medina's goal would be subjected to a video review to check for a possible offside.
Morocco took a 2-0 lead in the game before Argentina came back.
Giuliano Simeone scored in the 68th minute and Medina levelled the game in stoppage time.
Argentina faced booing from the crowd for the Enzo Fernandez video controversy that was labelled "racist and discriminatory" by the French Football Federation.
The recent Copa America winners, who won gold medals in 2004 and 2008, failed to produce their best game despite playing alongside Julian Alvarez, Nicolas Otamendi and Geronimo Rulli.
Soufiane Rahimi gave Morocco the lead just before halftime, thanks to a brilliant setup from Achraf Hakimi on the right side. Rahimi then extended Morocco’s advantage by converting a penalty in the 49th minute. Javier Mascherano's team managed to narrow the gap when Simeone scored in the 68th minute.
Medina then scored in the 16th minute, after which fans stormed the field and threw items at the players, causing chaos in the French eastern city.
Meanwhile, Spain, who struggled to maintain their momentum in the early stages of the game, took the lead against Uzbekistan in the 29th minute with Marc Pubil's close-range finish from Abel Ruiz's flicked ball.
Just before halftime, Uzbekistan leveled the score with a penalty by Eldor Shomurodov, awarded after a VAR review of a foul by Pau Cubarci.
Spain missed a golden opportunity to take the lead after halftime when Sergio Gomez's penalty effort was saved by Abduvohid Nematov, but the Real Sociedad man saved himself and scored in the 62nd minute to give Spain their first three points in Group C.
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