Fernando Romero Nuñez 
The Argentine Olympic football team got a last-minute 2-2 tie against Morocco, that was nevertheless disallowed one and a half hours after the game had apparently ended.
“This is the biggest circus I’ve seen in my life,” head coach Javier Mascherano shouted after Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg announced the decision.
The Albiceleste was losing 2-0 in the first 47 minutes, but clawed its way back and eventually scored a tying goal in a very controversial ending.
After regulation, the referee gave a shocking 15 minutes of added time, seemingly due to the Moroccan players’ extended time wastage throughout the match. In the 106th minute, a scrappy play — which included two big saves by Moroccan goalkeeper Munir Mohamedi and two shots hitting the crossbar — ended with midfielder Cristian Medina heading the ball in front of the goal, for an agonizing 2-2 finale.
Immediately after the goal, the match was suspended when Moroccan fans invaded the pitch and set off a loud firecracker, and Argentine players ran back to their locker room. The game was seemingly over and the end result was confirmed on the Olympics official site. But then images confirming an off-side position during Argentina’s final play were seen in the official broadcast, leading to the referee announcing that the game would be resumed.
The players returned to the pitch more than one hour after the goal, in an almost empty stadium, as most fans had left after the goal. Nyberg reviewed the play, disallowed the goal — making the score 2-1 in favor of Morocco — and gave three additional minutes of play, during which Argentina was unable to score again.
Javier Mascherano was furious after the match. “They invaded the pitch seven times and lit fireworks against us,” he told sports outlet TyC Sports. “They told us the game had ended 2-2. Neither us nor Morocco wanted to resume playing.”
Argentina star Lionel Messi reacted to the decision posting an Instagram story that only showed the word “Unbelievable” with a surprised emoji over a black background.
World Cup and two-time Copa América winner Nicolás Tagliafico also weighed in about the game being suspended because of a loud firecracker after the goal. “Are we going to talk about it or are we going to play dumb? I can’t imagine the things they’d be saying, had it been the other way around,” he posted on X.
When contacted by the Herald, the Argentine Olympic Committee (COA) had “no comment” on the matter.
