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Chaos, crowd hassle as Morocco beat Argentina in males’s Olympic soccer opener

The groups left the enjoying space, however the referee had not blown for full-time and the end result of the match was utterly unclear till the edges lastly reappeared two hours later to play out three extra minutes in a stadium by now emptied of spectators.

Medina’s objective was ultimately disallowed for offside following a VAR evaluation, and Morocco held on for all three factors.

Water bottles thrown by Morocco followers litter the pitch as Argentina’s midfielder Cristian Medina (centre) celebrates what he thought was his facet’s equaliser. Picture: AFP

It was an undignified begin to the sporting motion on the Paris Video games, and a nasty day all spherical for Argentina, whose gamers had been booed as they emerged onto the pitch and throughout the nationwide anthem by the group, most of whom had been supporting Morocco.

That welcome got here after Argentina gamers had been filmed singing racist chants following their victory within the current Copa America.

“It’s a circus,” Javier Mascherano, the Argentina coach, mentioned. “At no level did they inform us our objective was not legitimate … this is able to not even occur in a neighbourhood event. It’s pathetic.

“Past the Olympic spirit, the organisation must be as much as normal. In the intervening time it isn’t, sadly.”

Argentina want to win males’s soccer gold for the third time after success in 2004 and 2008, however Mascherano’s facet trailed 2-0 following a brace by Soufiane Rahimi.

Morocco captain Achraf Hakimi, the Paris Saint-Germain full-back, arrange Rahimi for the opener in first-half stoppage time.

The reigning African Beneath-23 champions doubled their lead six minutes into the second half from the penalty spot, Rahimi changing after Ilias Akhomach was introduced down.

Mascherano, who starred within the groups that received gold in Athens and Beijing, had at one level hoped to steer Lionel Messi to function among the many three permitted overage gamers in his squad in any other case restricted to these beneath 23.

Medina then thought he had saved a degree within the 106th minute as he nodded in after captain Nicolas Otamendi and Bruno Amione each hit the woodwork in a frantic few seconds of motion, just for Argentina to be denied.

Argentina’s subsequent recreation shall be in Lyon on Saturday in opposition to Iraq, who got here from behind to beat Ukraine 2-1 of their opener.

France’s Alexandre Lacazette (left) celebrates after scoring his facet’s first in opposition to the US. Picture: AP

France have excessive hopes of profitable gold on house soil regardless of coach Thierry Henry’s unsuccessful makes an attempt to recruit Kylian Mbappe into his squad.

They beat america 3-0 earlier than a big crowd in Marseille, with captain Alexandre Lacazette opening the scoring on 61 minutes by way of a high-quality strike from vary.

Lacazette then arrange new Bayern Munich signing Michael Olise to twist within the second, and defender Loic Bade headed in a late third.

In the identical Group A, New Zealand beat Guinea 2-1 with Plymouth Argyle’s Ben Waine getting the winner.

Silver medallists in Tokyo in 2021, Spain opened their bid for gold with a 2-1 win over Uzbekistan in Group C in Paris.

Marc Pubill gave Spain the lead simply earlier than the half-hour mark however Uzbekistan equalised from the penalty spot in first-half added time, Eldor Shomurodov changing after a foul by Barcelona prodigy Pau Cubarsi.

Sergio Gomez had a penalty saved early within the second half, however the former Manchester Metropolis participant netted Spain’s winner simply after the hour mark.

Group rivals Egypt and the Dominican Republic drew 0-0.

Japan beat 10-man Paraguay 5-0 in Group D, whereas Israel and Mali drew 1-1 in a match which handed off with out main incident regardless of preliminary safety fears.

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