The Argentine men’s football team lost 1-2 to Morocco on Wednesday in the first matchday of Group B of the Paris Olympic Games, with a surreal outcome due to a goal disallowed for the ‘Albiceleste’ after the match was suspended for two hours. caused by a pitch invasion after 15 minutes of added time.
At the Geoffroy Guichard Stadium in Saint-Étienne, Cristian Medina had scored the provisional 2-2 when 90+16′ had elapsed, in a bizarre play where there were two shots on the crossbar before the goal. In the midst of the Argentine celebrationA firecracker fell from the stands very close to some of the players and the referee suspended the match.
Bottles and glasses were then thrown by part of the crowd, according to the newspaper ‘L’Équipe’. Then the Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg, the main referee of the match, sent all the players to the dressing room as the excitement grew and The match was not officially declared over, as the VAR still had to verify a possible offside by Bruno Amione.
A final behind closed doors
All spectators were asked to leave the stadium over the loudspeaker at around 17:20 local time. The players from each team remained in uniform and returned to the pitch at 18:45 for a brief warm-up.After that, behind closed doors, Nyberg reviewed the controversial action and declared Amione offside.
At 19.10 hours, the match was resumed to play three more minutes of the long added time in the second half. Although the team coached by Javier Mascherano tried hard to make it 2-2, Morocco locked itself well at the back and maintained its advantage. Soufiane Rahimi’s double thus outweighed Giuliano Simeone’s goal.
Meanwhile, in Group C, Egypt and the Dominican Republic drew 0-0 at the Stade La Beaujoire in Nantes. The Egyptians insisted on their opponents’ goal in the final minutes, but they wasted a couple of clear chances in front of Xavier Valdez and the score did not move from the initial 0-0.
Spain suffers and wins
This result benefited Spain, as it is part of the same group, which is now led by Santi Denia’s men with three points after their somewhat hard-fought victory. 1-2 against Uzbekistan. The Spanish team’s next match will be next Saturday (3:00 p.m.) at the Parc des Princes in Paris against the Dominican team.
In addition, in Group A of these Olympic Games, the New Zealand team won by 1-2 to Guinea at the Allianz Riviera Stadium in Nice. Although Matthew Garbett missed a penalty in the 24th minute, he made amends just a minute later by scoring to make it 0-1 for the New Zealanders, after stealing the ball on the edge of the area and finishing off a slalom with a low right-footed shot.
Amadou Diawara made it 1-1 in the 72nd minute with another right-footed shot, in this case a cross shot from outside the area that went past several opponents. However, Guinea conceded the decisive goal in the 76th minute through Ben Waine, finishing off a fine pass after Lachlan Bayliss had broken free of the centre-backs.
Source: www.vozpopuli.com
