Confusion raged in the closing moments of Argentina’s opening match at the Olympics men’s soccer tournament, a match currently labelled as “interrupted” after a 106th minute equaliser against Morocco in Saint-Etienne. Cristian Medina’s bundled a header with one of the last kicks of the game seemed to have earned a draw for Javier Mascherano’s side, who for much of this game failed to live up to their pre-tournament status as one of the favorites to win gold.
However a stream of what appeared to be missiles hurled from the stands after the equaliser appear to have stopped the game from reaching its conclusion. At the time of writing the Olympics’ official website has not confirmed the completion of the game while reports from Argentina state that the players remain in the locker room awaiting the conclusion of the match.
Instead, it was African youth champions Morocco who started much the brighter, Paris Saint-Germain right back Achraf Hakimi a particular bright spark in a controlled start to proceedings. Roared on by a crowd where even those with no rooting interest had taken against Argentina — perhaps in light of the controversy sparked by a racist chant from the senior squad after they won the Copa America earlier this month — Morocco probed and interchanged impressively, a flowing team move setting up Soufiane Rahimi to fire them into the lead at close range as half time loomed.
The drama had only just begun. Though Argentina saw much of the ball in the second half they seemed short on ideas for what to do with it, crashing against an organised opposition defense. Had theirs been set up as effectively then Ilias Akhomach would not have been able to glide past veteran Nicolas Otamendi and into the box. Julio Soler might have felt that the hand he placed on the Villarreal forward’s back was not enough to send him down, but it invited danger. Akhomach hit the floor and Glenn Nyberg concluded it was a penalty, duly converted by Rahimi.
Soler at least made amends by teeing up substitute Giuliano Simeone soon after, ensuring that Argentina had only one goal to make up going into what appeared to be the final third of the game. However this match in which 33 fouls were committed ran and ran into 15 minutes of added time that were a veritable siege on the Moroccan goal.
It looked as though Tarik Sektioui’s side might have weathered the storm when a flicked header from Julian Alvarez found neither a teammate nor the target late on. However a fine tackle just inside the Moroccan third afforded one last chance for Thiago Almada, formerly of Atlanta United, to create some chaos. Slaloming past two defenders his first shot was blocked, his second spilled by Munir El Kajoui. Otamendi was convinced he had scored off the rebound only to see El Kajoui tip the ball onto the bar. An instant later it was struck again, Bruno Amione’s flick bouncing back onto the head of Medina, who appeared to have earned a precious point for the two time gold medalists.
However a flurry of thrown cups from the stands appeared to quell Argentine celebrations and may have prompted the players to abandon the pitch before the game was formally concluded.
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