"Historic failure" - the captain of the Olympic Argentine national team on the match against Morocco

In the opening round of the 2024 Olympic football tournament, Argentina's national team lost to Morocco 1-2 in a highly controversial match.

Captain Nicolás Otamendi reacted to the game, calling it a "historic failure."

"This is a historic failure. Nothing like this has ever happened before. The Moroccan team did not want to play, and neither did we (after the pause). We waited an hour and forty minutes, but no one told us what was happening. It leaves you feeling helpless," Otamendi stated.

It is remarkable that an hour after the Argentina-Morocco game ended, VAR reviewed the incident involving Argentina’s second goal. It was determined that the goal was scored from an offside position. Consequently, an hour after the match had concluded, the goal was disallowed, and an additional three minutes of play were ordered. The match resumed two hours later, with the score at 2-1 in favor of Morocco. Such a situation had never occurred before in football.

The head coach of the Argentine Olympic team, Javier Mascherano, also commented on the game and the situation. The captain and leader of the main national team, Lionel Messi, did not ignore this game.

For reference, Moroccan fans caused significant chaos following Argentina’s disallowed second goal.