In what will surely go down as one most elongated VAR decisions of all time, Argentina's 106th equalizer against Morocco in the side's maiden 2024 Olympics match was ruled out during an hour-and-a-half delay to the game.
Argentina substitute Christian Medina thought he leveled the match at 2-2 in the 15th minute of added time following a bizarre sequence of bounces in the penalty box. The Argentine players went to celebrate before pitch invaders and firecrackers overtook the festivities.
The players fled for the tunnel and the match was stopped amid confusion over whether it was full-time or not. When order was restored and fans had exited the stadium, the final few minutes were played over and hour and a half after play was stopped.
And the two teams emerged to the shocking verdict that an offside was given in the buildup to the goal, re-establishing Morocco's 2-1 advantage after one of the longest VAR checks in history. The Atlas Lions saw out a further three minutes of injury time to seal a chaotic victory in front on an empty Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Étienne.
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The tension in the stadium was palpable even prior to kickoff. Audible whistling and jeering could be heard from both Moroccan and local French matchgoers during the Argentina national anthem.
This was Argentina's first prominent international match following the nation's victory in the Copa America back on July 14th. Argentine and Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez recorded both himself and his teammates chanting a racist song about the French national team on Instagram Live.
Players were heard chanting (via translation) "On passport, French nationality, listen, spread the word, they play in France, but they are all…"
The French Football Federation issued a statement saying the video shared by Fernandez was both " racist and discriminatory ". Several of Fernandez's Chelsea teammates also came out and prominently denounced the song.
French centerback Wesley Fofana quote-tweeted the bus video with the caption "Football in 2024: uninhibited racism."
Argentina's Olympic U23 squad featured several prominent fixtures from the national team, namely Olympic captain Nicolás Otamendi and Manchester City forward Julián Álvarez. La Albiceleste is coached by former Liverpool and Barcelona stalwart Javier Mascherano..
The pair couldn't prevent Morocco from storming ahead to a 2-0 lead in the 51st minute courtesy of two goals from Al-Ain forward Soufiane Rahimi.
Argentine substitute Giuliano Simeone, son of Atlético Madrid coach Diego Simeone, drew one back in the 68th minute. 15 minutes of injury time were added due to various second-half delays, further irking an already cantankerous set of Moroccan and French fans.
The VAR decision leaves Argentina, two-time Olympic men's football gold medalists, with a mountain to climb to advance out of Group B.. They are set to face Iraq in Lyon on Saturday, July 27th.
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