On the opening day of the 2024 Paris Olympics, Argentina scored what they thought was a late goal to complete a 2-2 comeback against Morocco in a fiery game that ended in chaos. However, after a delay of more than one hour, Argentina’s equalizer was ruled offside followed by the final three minutes of the match being played behind closed doors.
Entering the 90th minute with a scoreline of Argentina 1-2 Morocco, the fourth official signaled 15 minutes of injury time due to the pitch invasions and time-wasting in the second half. Then, incredibly, Boca Juniors midfielder Cristian Medina scored an equalizer in the 16th minute of injury time, and that’s when the chaos ensued. Furious Morocco fans invaded the pitch, throwing objects on the field and at Argentina players.
After the players left the field, most viewers assumed the game had ended. However, there was plenty of confusion when the official Olympics website indicated that the game had finished.
Or had it?
After a delay of more than one hour, the players returned to the pitch while the referee, after consulting the VAR monitor screen, disallowed Argentina’s late equalizer. So with the score at Argentina 1-2 Morocco, the final three minutes of the game were played with no fans in the stadium. Ultimately, Morocco hung on to finish the game victorious.
The match opened up the men’s tournament but was interrupted several times by pitch invasions, hurled objects, and lengthy time-wasting.
Both sides had a slow start to the match. They both played timidly, prodding through each others’ defense and searching for any weaknesses. Each side preferred to play short, back-and-forth passes, slowing the game down.
Through some fancy footwork, the game saw its first goal. The underdogs, who looked ready to follow the senior team in a surprise deep run, took the lead just before halftime. Highly fancied winger Ilias Akhomach completed a roulette past an Argentina defender on the wing, flicking on an effort to El Khannous. El Khannous slammed a cutback from the goal line towards a streaking Soufiane Rahimi. Rahimi, one of the team’s overaged players, stabbed his effort past keeper Gerónimo Rulli to score.
As the Moroccans celebrated wildly, a flare was lit and red smoke poured from the stands. Hakimi fired up the crowd, throwing his arms up, and kissing the badge. It was something out of a dream, especially for a soccer-mad nation that has spent billions of dollars and even more hours developing its golden generation.
Morocco would get another chance with El Khannous powering, again, through the goal line. After fighting off, an Argentine defender took down El Khannous in the heart of the penalty box. After a brief VAR check, the referee awarded Morocco a penalty. Rahimi buried his penalty deep into the bottom left corner, narrowly beating the outstretched Rulli and doubling Morocco’s lead.
This time, green flares erupted from the stands.
From there, it seemed Morocco had a firm control of the match. They played free-flowing, fluid soccer, constantly bombarding a frail Argentina defense. Super-sub Abde Ezzalzouli raced down the left-hand flank with around a half-hour left in the game and squared the ball to Rahimi. It took an excellent save from Rulli to prevent Rahimi’s hattrick.
But, all of a sudden, Argentina got a goal back. After a crossed ball fell to left-back Julio Soler, Soler’s half-volley attempt fell perfectly to Giuliano Simeone at the back post. The Atletico Madrid attacker poked his effort into the goal. With 20 or so minutes of play left, Argentina had ample time to both get a goal back or get their first lead.
Argentina’s lifeline in the game wouldn’t be the creative stroke of Echeverri or Alvarez, but the 15 minutes of added time tacked onto the game. American commentators thought it was a mistake. However, the numbers slowly drew into the eighth minute, the tenth minute, and the twelfth minute. Morocco bogged the game down by exaggerating injuries and throwing the ball out of play several times. However, 15 minutes of extra time was objectively harsh and would prove to have big consequences.
Morocco lost their creativity and attacking hunger throughout extra time and simply hunkered into their shell. Argentina bombarded Morocco with chance after chance, and it took a couple of amazing saves from Morocco keeper Munir.
With one of the last kicks of the game, Thiago Almada fired a blasted shot into Munir. Munir couldn’t get a firm grip on it, and the ball fell to Nicolás Otamendi. Munir barely tipped Otamendi’s shot away, sending it into the crossbar.
Bruno Amione’s header also met the crossbar. The rebound fell flatly to Medina, who easily tapped the ball into an open net. The Argentine team celebrated wildly in front of the cameras. But, Moroccan fans retaliated by throwing drinks and objects at the corner flag.
After the full-time whistle, two angry Moroccan fans stormed the pitch and attempted to confront the Argentine players. They were escorted off by security. While the Argentine players lined up to enter the tunnel leading to their locker rooms, Moroccan fans pelted them with more objects, including an object that looked like a flare.
Argentine media reported that players were still resting in the locker room waiting on a final decision from Olympics higher-ups. The IOC decided that the teams would play the final three minutes of the match without fans.
Photo: Imago
