The Olympic Games started in the worst way, with a dark stain that will remain in the history of Olympism and world soccer, after a controversial decision in which VAR disallowed a goal for Argentina 90 minutes after it was scored, resulting in a defeat in the opening match against Morocco.
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The South American team had managed to achieve a dramatic 2-2 draw, after 15 minutes of additional time in the second half, and that's how they had gone to the locker rooms, assuming that the match had ended and that was also announced by the official tournament website.
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Soufiane Rahimi scored both goals for the African team, while Giuliano Simeone scored for the South Americans and Cristian Medina had equalized. The match was played in Saint-Etienne.
VAR resumed the match to disallow a goal for Argentina
After that agonizing goal, several Moroccan fans jumped onto the field, which forced the interruption of the match.
Many considered it over, including the official website of the Games, however, the game was interrupted and resumed an hour and a half later.
The surprise was even greater when after the footballers returned to the field, the VAR and referee Glenn Nyberg reviewed that last play and decided to annul it, as well as starting the last 3 minutes.
A determination like this has no parallel in the history of world football and becomes a true scandal.
The harsh reaction of Argentinians against the decision
Just after the match ended, Argentina's coach, Javier Mascherano, said, "It's the biggest circus I've ever seen in my life."
Lionel Messi also spoke out, who is on vacation and due to his heavy workload from the Copa America, chose not to participate in the Olympic Games. "Unbelievable" wrote the "Flea" with an emoji.
The full-back of the Argentina national team, Nicolás Tagliafico, commented on social media “Circus aside, are we going to talk about the reason why it was suspended or are we going to keep playing dumb? If it had been the other way around, I can’t even imagine what they would be saying.”