Argentina-Morocco Olympic Men's Soccer Opener Descends Into Chaos

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Facts

  • The first day of men's soccer at the Paris Games was mired in chaos as the Argentina-Morocco game at Stade ­Geoffroy Guichard in Saint-Ettiene had to be suspended for over an hour and completed behind closed doors.1
  • Morocco fans stormed the field and threw objects at Argentina players, including what appeared to be a flare, on Wednesday after Cristian Medina scored a late-minute equalizer for the South Americans that was eventually ruled out by a video assistant referee (VAR).2
  • After the chaotic opener, Argentina's coach Javier Mascherano revealed that items belonging to players were robbed from the team's training base. Authorities in Saint-Ettiene confirmed on Thursday that a police complaint was filed in Lyon.3
  • This comes as Argentina's national anthem was booed before this game, as well as ahead of a rugby sevens match against Kenya, amid a racism storm related to an offensive chant about France sung during Copa America celebrations.4
  • Meanwhile, Argentine Pres. Javier Milei has arrived in Paris to meet with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, in a bid to ease tensions between their countries.5
  • Milei previously sent his sister and aide, Karina, to meet France's ambassador to Argentina, and distanced himself from his vice president, Victoria Villaruel, after she condoned the chant that claims French players come from Angola.6

Sources: 1Guardian, 2New York Post, 3Washington Post, 4Daily Mail, 5Associated Press and 6The Telegraph.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Buenos Aires Herald. This incident has turned an opening Olympic game into a pathetic circus in which Argentine players were forced to run back to their locker room as organizers failed to ensure their safety to play soccer. On top of that, the decision to resume the game goes against FIFA regulations as neither side wanted to continue playing.
  • Narrative B, as provided by The New Arab. It's certainly regrettable that organizational disaster has tarnished this opening Olympic game, but what is more concerning is the fact that Argentine fans have used that as a justification to carry out racist and xenophobic online attacks yet again — now against Moroccan players. There must be no room for such behavior in soccer.
  • Nerd narrative, as provided by metaculus.com. There's a 19% chance that a terrorist act will occur in metropolitan France during the 2024 Summer Olympics, according to the Metaculus prediction community.