The Argentina squad consisting of the likes of Manchester Metropolis’s Julian Alvarez misplaced 1-2 in opposition to a sport Morocco aspect as the primary day of the footballing motion on the Paris Olympics went down in infamy after followers invaded the pitch, protesting Argentina’s equalizer which pressured he match to be suspended earlier than resuming after 2 hours.
Morocco’s Soufiane Rahimi had scored each targets for the Atlas Lions, first within the 45+2 minutes after which once more from the penalty spot to double his aspect’s lead. Giovanni Simeone would pull one again for Argentina however the La Albiceleste couldn’t discover one other purpose until the sixteenth minute of added time when it regarded like Cristian Medina had equalized for the 2008 Olympics gold medal winners. However it was to not be.
Followers would then invade the stadium whereas bottles and objects had been thrown on the Argentina gamers which pressured the officers to droop the match in the interim. After order was restored in Saint-Etienne and the groups had left the sector, they found that the match had not been accomplished however suspended by officers.
The groups re-emerged into an empty stadium about two hours later, with the match scheduled to restart at 7:00 p.m. native time so the ultimate seconds might be performed.
After the match restarted, the equalizing purpose for Argentina was disallowed for offside which meant that they went all the way down to Morocco in one of the crucial chaotic matches performed within the historical past of the Olympics.
Argentina coach Javier Mascherano would time period the entire fiasco as a circus. “The largest circus I’ve ever seen in my life,” he mentioned after the match.
“Unbelievable,” Argentina celebrity Lionel Messi would write on his Instagram.
In one other match, Spain defeated Uzbekistan 1-2 on the Parc des Princes in western Paris with Marc Pubill and Sergio Gómez scoring for the Euro 2024 winners whereas Eldor Shomurodov pulled one again for the Uzbeks.
The honour of kicking off went to Uzbekistan captain Eldor Shomurodov, who performed for Italian aspect Cagliari in Serie A final season and had scored 40 targets for his nation earlier than this match. The 29-year-old Shomurodov handed the ball again to a teammate after which applauded. FIFA president Gianni Infantino met gamers earlier than the sport.
Argentina, taking part in with out Messi in these Video games, additionally obtained the ball rolling in opposition to Morocco in Saint-Étienne at Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium. It’s nicknamed Le Chaudron (The Cauldron) for the fervent environment created by passionate supporters of the native membership.
Safety was set to be a lot greater outdoors the identical stadium on Wednesday evening, when Israel performed Mali in Group D amid ongoing tensions in Gaza.
Eight soccer matches had been scheduled for Wednesday, two days earlier than the opening ceremony. The rugby sevens additionally had 12 matches Wednesday with Australia taking part in Samoa at Stade de France, the nationwide stadium.
(With company inputs)
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First uploaded on: 24-07-2024 at 20:47 IST
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