THERE was drama and controversy today on the opening day of the men’s football event of the Paris 2024 Olympics as Argentina had a point snatched from them over an hour after they thought they had secured a draw against Morocco.
Argentina had scored with virtually the last kick of the match and were confident they had earned a dramatic 2-2 draw with Morocco, while Spain overcame Uzbekistan 2-1 in the opening matches of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games men’s football event.
But the final moments of the match were disrupted by crowd trouble in Saint-Etienne and it was suspended for about an hour.
When it was finally resumed, Argentina’s ‘equalizing goal’ was checked by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) and found to have been scored from an offside position.
The goal was chalked off and Morocco walked away with a 2-1 upset victory over the 2004 and 2008 gold medallists.
Morocco, one of Africa’s four representatives in the event, took a 2-0 lead early in the second half and looked to be coasting to an upset victory.
But 2004 and 2008 gold medallists Argentina thought they pulled level, taking full advantage of the 15 minutes of stoppage time.
Soufiane Rahimi struck twice for Morocco in Saint-Etienne, first with a close range finish to end a fine team move just before half-time, and from the penalty spot six minutes after the break.
Argentina got themselves back into the game as substitute Giuliano Simeone made it 2-1 in the 68th minute and then felt they earned a share of the points in the Group B encounter when another substitute Claudio Echeverri pounced to poke home in the 16th minute of added time as bedlam reigned in the Morocco box.
In the other match that kicked off a the same time in Paris, Marc Pubill and Sergio Gomez scored for Spain as they beat Uzbekistan 2-1 to go to the top of Group C.
Pubill shot Spain in front in the 29th minute but Eldor Shomurodov equalised for Uzbekistan with a penalty in first-half stoppage time.
Spain then missed a penalty through Gomez in the 59th minute before the new Real Sociedad wing-back atoned with the winning goal three minutes later.
