Football tournaments within the Olympic Games usually take a backseat to the final, and this is not surprising. When it comes to forming teams, there is a qualification for players up to 23 years of age, which can only be exceeded by three players. In addition, clubs are not keen to let their stars go in the middle of pre-season training.
But the current Olympic tournament immediately caught everyone’s attention. At the centre of the event is the match between the national teams of Argentina and Morocco, which took place in Saint-Etienne and ended with a sensational 2-1 victory for the Africans.
It all started with the booing from the stands during the Argentine anthem: the crowd reminded the South Americans of the provocative chant about the French that the Argentine national team players chanted after the recent victory in the Copa América.
Then, for a while, football came to the fore. The Argentines, led by former player Javier Mascherano, brought one of their strongest teams to the Olympics with veteran defender Otamendi and Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez. But at the start of the second half, the Moroccans were leading 2:0 thanks to a double from Sufyan Rahimi.
In the 68th minute, Giuliano Simeone, son of famous Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone, scored a goal. And then the fun began.
The main referee of the match, the Swede Glenn Nyberg, added 15 minutes to the main time. And the Argentines, after attacking, recovered: Cristiano Medina scored. It is true that at that moment the 16th minute had already passed.
The Argentine joy knew no bounds. Mascherano was on the ball. However, the South Americans were soon forced to leave the field as disgruntled Moroccan fans threw firecrackers and bottles at them.
A 2:2 draw? It doesn’t matter how it is. It turned out that the teams left the field before the final whistle and the referees did not have time to check the goal with the VAR. On the official website of the International Olympic Committee, the status of the match was changed to “interrupted”.
The Argentina-Morocco match ended just two hours after being halted due to riots
Two hours later, the referees finally used video assistance. And just imagine, the second goal for the Argentines was scored in a microscopic offside situation. As a result, the goal was officially cancelled and the players were invited to finish the game for another three minutes. With empty stands. The Argentine national team did not have enough strength to repeat the feat.
“The biggest circus I have ever seen in my life,” said Argentine coach Javier Mascherano.
Seven more games were played yesterday in the framework of the Olympic tournament. The Uzbek national team lost to the Spanish at the Parc des Princes in Paris by 1:2. This match might interest Russian fans, who have three familiar faces in the Uzbek national team. Abossbek Faizullaev came to the 2024 Games from CSKA, Umarali Rakhmonaliev from Rubin Kazan. And Eldar Shomurodov and Oston Urunov played once for Rostov and Spartak respectively.
The only goal for the losers was scored by Shomurodov.
Results of other matches: Guinea – New Zealand – 1:2, Egypt – Dominican Republic – 0:0. The matches Japan – Paraguay, France – USA, Iraq – Ukraine and Mali – Israel were completed after this issue of “RG” was published.
Meanwhile
Spartak Moscow striker Alexander Sobolev has been suspended from training with the first team, the club’s Portuguese sporting director, Tomas Amaral, told reporters.
Rumours about Sobolev’s possible departure have been circulating for several months. They intensified in the summer off-season, when the capital club’s new coach, Serbian Dejan Stankovic, began to form the team for the new season. According to unconfirmed reports, Alexander was part of Stankovic’s plans, but the striker himself no longer sees himself at Spartak.
By the way, Zenit have never hidden their interest in the Spartak striker. The team’s head coach Sergei Semak openly said that a player like Sobolev would be useful to them.
It is rumored that the St. Petersburg club offered the player a much higher salary than in the Moscow team, and in addition, on the field of St. Petersburg, Alexander will have a real chance to win trophies. Now everything depends on how quickly the two competitors for the championship come to an agreement. Given the current situation, the striker is unlikely to stay at Spartak. According to unofficial information, Sobolev himself admitted after the defeat in Orenburg (0:2) to Stankovic that it was difficult for him to concentrate on football in anticipation of a possible move to St. Petersburg.
Prepared by Arthur Nanyan
