Fans invade pitch as Argentina lose Olympic football opener

PARIS – Argentina’s Cristian Medina scored a 16th-minute stoppage-time goal to salvage what had looked like a 2-2 draw with Morocco on July 24, before fans invaded the pitch and stopped play as confusion reigned on the first day of action in Group B of men’s football at the Olympics.

After order was restored in Saint-Etienne and the teams had left the field, they discovered that the match had not been completed but suspended by the officials.

The venue manager told Reuters that the game had been interrupted and had not resumed yet, adding that a decision about whether the match would be completed was being discussed. The Olympics website also showed the match as “interrupted”.

The equaliser was disallowed after the lengthy disruption with the video assistant referee confirming that it was offside. The match then resumed for three minutes before ending 2-1 in favour of Morocco.

Gold medal winners in 2004 and 2008, Argentina were without talisman Lionel Messi and failed to display their best play despite lining up recent Copa America winners Julian Alvarez, Nicolas Otamendi and Geronimo Rulli.

Soufiane Rahimi put Morocco ahead as Achraf Hakimi set him up from the right after a superb passing move in the final seconds of the first half.

Rahimi then doubled the advantage and netted his second from the penalty spot in the 49th minute, before Giuliano Simeone pulled one back for Javier Mascherano’s side in the 68th.

Medina then found the net 16 minutes into added time, sparking a pitch invasion as objects were thrown at players amid chaos at the stadium, before the goal was ruled out.

Fans online were also bewildered by the lengthy time added, taking to social media to voice their opinions.

One wrote: “Added time: until Argentina score.”

Another said: “Sorry but 15 minutes of added time in Argentina v Morocco is not just egregious, but scandalous.”

Most of the comments felt that the Argentinians were given an advantage by officials, with another adding: “Argentina has no credibility in any international tournament. 15 minutes added time in a group stage game??”

Even their own fans were surprised. “I’m Argentinian and there is no way there should have been 15 minutes of stoppage time in this game. Beyond happy but there needs to be an investigation ASAP,” a user said.

In Group C, 2020 silver medalists Spain got off to a good start with their 2-1 win over Uzbekistan, thanks to goals from from Sergio Gomez and Marc Pubill.

Pubill opened the scoring in the first half before Uzbekistan, who were runners-up at the 2024 Under-23 Asian Cup, equalised from the penalty spot via Eldor Shomurodov.

Gomez then missed a spot kick of his own in the 59th minute, but made up for his mistake shortly after the hour mark with what proved to be the winner.

In rugby sevens, Australia laid down a marker to hosts France and two-time Olympic champions Fiji, kicking off the tournament with a 21-14 Pool B win over Samoa at a packed Stade de France.

France are the team to beat in the men’s competition, with superstar Antoine Dupont one of the pin-ups of the Games and arguably the world’s best 15-a-side rugby player.

However, the French were surprisingly held 12-12 by the United States in their Pool C opener.
REUTERS, AFP