By Janina Nuno Rios
PARIS (Reuters) -A fan invasion in the opening match of the Olympic football tournament between Argentina and Morocco on Wednesday caused chaos, with Argentina eventually beaten 2-1 following a VAR review after play was suspended with the score tied at 2-2.
Argentina’s Cristian Medina scored deep in injury time to salvage what looked like a 2-2 draw, but the decision ruling out the goal was delivered about two hours after play was suspended when the teams re-emerged on to the pitch to finish the match in an empty stadium.
The teams played for three minutes and 15 seconds after VAR completed its review and disallowed the goal.
After order was restored in Saint-Etienne and the teams had left the field following the fan invasion, they discovered that the match had not been completed but suspended by officials.
The venue manager told Reuters the game had been interrupted, adding that a decision about whether the match would be completed was being discussed.
The teams re-emerged just before 7:00 p.m. local time and warmed up a second time so the final minutes could be played.
The gold medal winners in 2004 and 2008 were not at their best despite lining up with recent Copa America winners Julian Alvarez, Nicolas Otamendi and Geronimo Rulli.
Soufiane Rahimi put Morocco ahead after Achraf Hakimi set him up from the right following a superb passing move in the final seconds of the first half.
Rahimi doubled the advantage and netted his second from the penalty spot in the 49th minute before Giuliano Simeone pulled one back for Javier Mascherano’s side in the 68th.
Medina then found the net 16 minutes into stoppage time before fans stormed the pitch and objects were thrown at players as chaos erupted in the eastern French city.
Spain beat Uzbekistan 2-1 in their opening match of Group C at the Parc de Princes.
Spain, who struggled to hit their stride in the opening stages of the game, took the lead in the 29th minute against Uzbekistan with a close-range finish from Marc Pubill off Abel Ruiz’s flick.
Uzbekistan, cheered on by an ecstatic crowd, equalised just before halftime thanks to Eldor Shomurodov’s penalty following a VAR review for a Pau Cubarsi foul.
“For me, Uzbekistan were no surprise,” Spain coach Santi Denia said. “We have achieved our objective, but it’s been a very difficult game and now it is time to improve. That’s my job, I have to transmit better.”
“I told the team at halftime to improve ball circulation, which was what we were missing. We have to improve that. If we do it we will have more options to achieve victory.”
Spain wasted a golden chance to restore the lead after the break when Sergio Gomez’s penalty effort was saved by Abduvohid Nematov, but the Real Sociedad player redeemed himself and found the net in the 62nd minute.
(Reporting by Janina Nuno RiosEditing by Christian Radnedge and Toby Davis)
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