THE FIRST BIG CONTROVERSY OF THE PARIS OLYMPICS

Morocco held on against Argentina thanks in part to a delayed, stoppage-time VAR review. / Screenshot via NBC Sports

WHAT A MESS

 The opening ceremony hasn’t even happened yet and we already have a major controversy at the Paris Olympics.

Events began on Wednesday with action in men’s rugby and men’s soccer, and it was the first match of the men's soccer tournament between Argentina and Morocco that has everyone talking.

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SI:AM | The First Big Controversy of the Paris Olympics

The Argentina-Morocco men’s soccer game was utter chaos.

Dan Gartland | 2 Hours Ago

Morocco held on against Argentina thanks in part to a delayed, stoppage-time VAR review. / Screenshot via NBC Sports

In this story:

Argentina

Morocco

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I can’t believe how many interesting things have already happened at the Olympics.

In today’s SI:AM:

🇲🇦 Morocco madness

🍾 SI’s 70th anniversary

🏊‍♂️ Caeleb Dressel’s comments

What a mess

The opening ceremony hasn’t even happened yet and we already have a major controversy at the Paris Olympics.

Events began on Wednesday with action in men’s rugby and men’s soccer, and it was the first match of the men's soccer tournament between Argentina and Morocco that has everyone talking.

The controversy began when there were a whopping 15 minutes of stoppage time added to the end of the match. Morocco had taken a 2–0 lead on a penalty early in the second half before Argentina scored in the 68th minute to pull within a goal. The staggering amount of added time gave Argentina plenty of chances to score an equalizing goal.

In the 16th minute of stoppage time, after a chaotic flurry of shots, Cristian Medina scored to make it 2–2. Moroccan fans, upset that Argentina had been allowed to score after the 15 added minutes had elapsed, began to throw things on the field. Some even ran out onto the pitch. The players were removed from the field as authorities attempted to restore order and clear the stadium.

It seemed at that point as though the game was over. After all, the 15 minutes of added time had already been played and the players were back in the locker room. But it wasn’t over. Somehow, there was still more time to be played.

About an hour and a half after the players were removed from the pitch, word came down that Medina’s goal had been disallowed and that the players would return to the field to play three more minutes in an empty stadium. Morocco then held on to win, with the final whistle blowing two hours after Medina’s apparent equalizer.

The decision to disallow the goal was fairly uncontroversial. A VAR (video assistant referee) review showed that Argentina’s Bruno Amione was offside during the buildup before the goal. Only about half of his foot was offside, but that’s all you need in the VAR era.

What remains unclear, though, is why the officials decided to bring the teams back on the field to play three more minutes when the full 15 minutes of stoppage time had already elapsed and why it took so long for the VAR decision to be announced. ESPN’s Dale Johnson speculated that organizers may have wanted to wait until the fans had been removed before making the announcement to avoid the possibility of a violent fan reaction.

But at the same time, not even the teams were informed that the goal was under review.

“Afterwards, when we had no news one hour later, we started to notice strange things,” Argentina coach Javier Mascherano said, according to The Athletic. “What did the referee tell us? No, no, the referee never came, he never gave us an explanation.”

Mascherano also called the situation “a scandal” and “the biggest circus I've ever seen in my life.”

“Having to wait almost two hours in the dressing room, after Morocco fans entering the pitch, the violence that the Argentina delegation suffered, our players having to warm up again and continue to play a match that should have been suspended by the main referee, is really something that makes no sense and that goes against the competition rules,” Argentina Football Association president Claudio Tapia said, according to the Associated Press.

The result would have been big news even without the controversy. Morocco, which reached the semifinals at the last World Cup, is no pushover, but a win over Argentina should still be considered an upset. Argentina is seeking to continue its incredible run in international competitions after having won the 2022 World Cup and the last two Copa América tournaments, and now the loss places extra pressure on the team in its upcoming group stage matches against Ukraine and Iraq.

It’s also an unfortunate note for the tournament to open with. Wednesday’s game surely won’t be the only game with a confusing situation that requires clear communication between the officials and the teams, and the events in Saint-Étienne have called into question the organizers’ ability to deal with challenging circumstances.