The Olympic soccer tournament is under way, but it took just 106 minutes of play for the first moment of utterly absurd controversy at the Paris 2024 Games.
Argentina's Olympics got off to a bad start when they fell two goals behind to Morocco in the opening game of the men's schedule.
Javier Mascherano's side managed to pull one back through Atletico Madrid forward Giuliano Simeone, and then scored a dramatic equalizer in the 16th minute of added time at the end of the match. Cristian Medina's goal was bundled in after multiple efforts had hit the woodwork.
With so much unexplainable added time for Argentina to find a goal, the events of the match clearly frustrated Morocco fans — so much so that they invaded the field of play and threw objects near the players.
While it seemed the match concluded after the goal, that was not the case, and after over an hour of deliberation, the end of the game was sensationally reversed. Ultimately, Argentina fell 2-1 to Morocco in highly controversial fashion.
The Sporting News has all the details on the wild finish to the match in Saint-Etienne.
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What happened at the end of Argentina vs. Morocco Olympic soccer match?
At the end of the 90 minutes, Morocco were leading 2-1. However, the African side spent the majority of the second half wasting time, which led to the referee adding an extra 15 minutes of injury time.
That highly unusual amount of time was down to time-wasting tactics by Morocco as well as a pitch invasion towards the end of the game. Still, it was hard to justify such an incredibly high number.
When Giuliano Simeone scored his equalizer 30 seconds after the 15 minutes had come and gone, Moroccan fans lost their heads, invading the pitch and throwing objects towards the Argentine players. Reports of a firecracker landing next to Julian Alvarez circulated.
Argentinian journalist Hugo Balassone suggested that this tournament has implemented a new method for added time: the VAR has a stopwatch to make up for "lost time." This ensures that teams are appropriately punished for wasting time and give the opponent a fair amount of play to find a goal.
Medina's strike, which came after an insane series of rebounds, post strikes and saves by Munir El Kajoui, appeared to be the final kick of the match.
The officials initially announced that the match was suspended due to the fan disruptions, however it was then later confirmed that the game had indeed finished 2-2 on the official Olympic website. However, after over an hour of deliberation, the match was sensationally brought back to life by the referee, who spotted an issue with Argentina's equalizer.
In a truly astonishing turn of events, the goal was disallowed by VAR due to an offside, with the decision coming over an hour after the supposed end of the match. Throughout that time, players and coaches had reportedly been kept in the locker rooms while deliberations on how to proceed continued.
Ultimately, the match officials decided to bring all the players back out onto the pitch and warm up for 10 minutes, before then having the referee officially review the incident and determine the goal to be nullified — over 90 minutes after the match had appeared to be finished. By rule, the goal could not be officially reviewed by the referees without the players on the pitch.
Why was Argentina's goal ruled out by VAR?
From a purely sporting perspective, the decision to rule out Argentina's late equalizer against Morocco was the correct decision.
HIGHLIGHT: Watch the goal in USA
Ignacio Fernandez was judged to have been offside on Bruno Amione's shot that cannoned off the crossbar moments before Simeone's goal. The rebound off the woodwork winds up in Fernandez's lap, and it's his header to the far post which puts the ball into Simeone's path for the goal.
The controversy, obviously, comes in the manner with which the decision took place. It seemed that the match had concluded after Simeone's equalizer, with the result even appearing official at one point. However, over 90 minutes after the match "ended," play was restarted and Morocco played out to a 2-1 victory.
Over four hours after kickoff, the result was finally sealed, as the final three minutes of action took place with no fans in the stands.
Following the result, Argentina head coach Javier Mascherano dubbed the events "the biggest circus I have ever seen in my life."
Lionel Messi posted to his Instagram the word "insolito" on a black background, which translates in English to "unbelievable."
The FIFA Disciplinary Committee announced on Thursday it is appointing an integrity expert to investigate what happened in the controversial match.
"Further information regarding the outcome of those investigations will be communication by FIFA in due time," the statement read.