Chaos, Crowd Trouble as Morocco Beat Argentina in Men's Olympic Football Opener

Paris 2024 Olympics - Football - Men's Group B - Argentina vs Morocco - Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium, Saint-Etienne, France - July 24, 2024. Achraf Hakimi of Morocco reacts as pitch invaders run to the pitch after the match. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani Purchase Licensing Rights
Paris 2024 Olympics - Football - Men's Group B - Argentina vs Morocco - Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium, Saint-Etienne, France - July 24, 2024. Achraf Hakimi of Morocco reacts as pitch invaders run to the pitch after the match. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani Purchase Licensing Rights
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Chaos, Crowd Trouble as Morocco Beat Argentina in Men's Olympic Football Opener

Paris 2024 Olympics - Football - Men's Group B - Argentina vs Morocco - Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium, Saint-Etienne, France - July 24, 2024. Achraf Hakimi of Morocco reacts as pitch invaders run to the pitch after the match. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani Purchase Licensing Rights
Paris 2024 Olympics - Football - Men's Group B - Argentina vs Morocco - Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium, Saint-Etienne, France - July 24, 2024. Achraf Hakimi of Morocco reacts as pitch invaders run to the pitch after the match. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani Purchase Licensing Rights

Chaos and confusion reigned on Wednesday as Morocco beat Argentina 2-1 in their opening game of the men's Olympic football tournament, but only after a late equaliser for the South American side was disallowed and the final minutes were played out in an empty stadium following crowd trouble.

Argentina thought they had escaped from the Group B match in Saint-Etienne with a 2-2 draw when Cristian Medina scored in the 16th minute of added time.

But as their players celebrated, projectiles including bottles and plastic cups rained down from the stands and several spectators entered the pitch, with the referee promptly blowing the whistle, AFP reported.

The teams left the playing area, but the referee had not blown for full-time and the outcome of the match was completely unclear until the sides finally reappeared two hours later to play out three more minutes in a stadium by now emptied of spectators.

Medina's goal was eventually disallowed for offside following a VAR review, and Morocco held on for all three points.

It was an undignified start to the sporting action at the Paris Games, and a bad day all round for Argentina, whose players were booed as they emerged onto the pitch and during the national anthem by the crowd, most of whom were supporting Morocco.

That welcome came after Argentina players were filmed singing racist chants following their victory in the recent Copa America.

"It is a circus," complained Argentina coach Javier Mascherano.

"At no point did they tell us our goal was not valid... this would not even happen in a neighbourhood tournament. It's pathetic.

"Beyond the Olympic spirit, the organisation needs to be up to standard. At the moment it is not, unfortunately."

Argentina are looking to win men's football gold for the third time after success in 2004 and 2008, but Mascherano's side trailed 2-0 following a brace by Soufiane Rahimi.

Morocco captain Achraf Hakimi, the Paris Saint-Germain full-back, set up Rahimi for the opener in first-half stoppage time.

The reigning African Under-23 champions doubled their lead six minutes into the second half from the penalty spot, Rahimi converting after Ilias Akhomach was brought down.

Mascherano, who starred in the teams that won gold in Athens and Beijing, had at one point hoped to persuade Lionel Messi to feature among the three permitted overage players in his squad otherwise limited to those under 23.

Messi turned him down, and the biggest names in their side here were Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez and captain Nicolas Otamendi, the Benfica defender.

Giuliano Simeone, son of former Argentina star Diego, came off the bench to pull one back midway through the second half.

Medina then thought he had saved a point in the 106th minute as he nodded in after Otamendi and Bruno Amione both hit the woodwork in a frantic few seconds of action, only for Argentina to be denied.

Argentina's next game will be in Lyon on Saturday against Iraq, who came from behind to beat Ukraine 2-1 in their opener.

France have high hopes of winning gold on home soil despite coach Thierry Henry's unsuccessful attempts to recruit Kylian Mbappe into his squad.

They beat the United States 3-0 before a large crowd in Marseille, with captain Alexandre Lacazette opening the scoring on 61 minutes via a fine strike from range.

Lacazette then set up new Bayern Munich signing Michael Olise to curl in the second, and defender Loic Bade headed in a late third.

In the same Group A, New Zealand defeated Guinea 2-1 with Plymouth Argyle's Ben Waine getting the winner.

Silver medallists in Tokyo in 2021, Spain opened their bid for gold with a 2-1 win over Uzbekistan in Group C in Paris.

Marc Pubill gave Spain the lead just before the half-hour mark but Uzbekistan equalised from the penalty spot in first-half added time, Eldor Shomurodov converting after a foul by Barcelona prodigy Pau Cubarsi.

Sergio Gomez had a penalty saved early in the second half, but the former Manchester City player netted Spain's winner just after the hour mark.

Group rivals Egypt and the Dominican Republic drew 0-0.

Japan beat 10-man Paraguay 5-0 in Group D, while Israel and Mali drew 1-1 in a match which passed off without major incident despite initial security fears.



Pele's Pain, Rooney's Rocket and Great Escapes: Everton Bids Farewell to Goodison Park 

A general view of Goodison Park stadium ahead of the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP)
A general view of Goodison Park stadium ahead of the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP)
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Pele's Pain, Rooney's Rocket and Great Escapes: Everton Bids Farewell to Goodison Park 

A general view of Goodison Park stadium ahead of the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP)
A general view of Goodison Park stadium ahead of the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP)

The "Grand Old Lady" of English soccer is about to bid farewell to the men's game.

Goodison Park, the long-time home of Premier League team Everton, has staged more top-tier games than any other stadium in England. It was where Pele was kicked to pieces before losing a World Cup match with Brazil for the only time. It was where eight English league titles were won, and where several nerve-shredding escapes from relegation in the Premier League were completed.

Everton will leave Goodison at the end of this season to move to a new 53,000-seat stadium at nearby Bramley-Moore Dock. Sunday's visit b Southampton marks the final game in the team's home of 133 years and the occasion will be marked by what Everton is calling an "End of an Era" ceremony afterward.

The stadium will continue to operate instead in the women's game, as the new home of Everton Women.

Goodison wasn't always Everton's home Goodison Park has been the home to eight of Everton's nine title-winning campaigns. The first came somewhere you might not expect.

Everton became a professional club and played its first Football League fixture at Anfield — now the storied home of neighbor Liverpool — from 1884-92. The club's first league title was won there in 1891, with Everton matches watched by crowds of up to 20,000.

But a dispute with Everton's then-chairman, who owned the land, pushed club officials to buy a field just across Stanley Park and build a new stadium — Goodison Park.

It opened in 1892, staged an FA Cup final two years later and, in 1924, hosted an exhibition baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and New York Giants on their world tour.

The architect Goodison Park is a celebrated example by the greatest architect of soccer's early years, Archibald Leitch.

The Scottish architect, who designed dozens of soccer and rugby venues in the early 20th century, started work at Everton with the Goodison Road stand in 1909. The huge construction was popularly compared to an ocean liner called the Mauretania.

The main Bullens Road stand is now 99 years old and still has the signature Leitch feature, crossed trusses on the upper-tier balcony.

What Leitch didn't build was another unique feature of Goodison Park — St. Luke's Church in one corner of the ground next to the Gwladys Street end that's home to Everton's noisiest fans.

Pele's World Cup troubles at Goodison

Pele played in 14 games at four different World Cups from 1958 to 1970 and lost only one: at Goodison.

Brazil was based at Goodison for its group-stage games in 1966 and the two-time defending champion's superstar was targeted for rough treatment. Pele scored in an opening 2-0 win over Bulgaria but was too injured to then face Hungary, which won 3-1.

Pele came back for a decisive game against Eusebio's Portugal and again was repeatedly fouled. Portugal won 3-1 and Brazil exited with the sad sight of Pele limping around the Goodison field.

Goodison hosted an epic quarterfinal — North Korea took an early three-goal lead before Eusebio scored four and Portugal won 5-3 — then a semifinal that controversially didn't involve England. FIFA, led by its English president Stanley Rous, switched the England-Portugal game to Wembley and Goodison instead hosted West Germany beating the Soviet Union. Fans in Liverpool were not impressed, calling it an "England fix."

Goodison was "the best stadium in my playing life," Eusebio said in 2009 on a return visit.

Goodison's greatest games

For many Everton fans, nothing quite tops the atmosphere that was generated in the stadium — often fondly referred to as the "Grand Old Lady" — when their team beat Bayern Munich and Lothar Matthäus 3-1 in the second leg of the European Cup-Winners' Cup semifinals.

The old stadium rocked with relief as much as joy when Everton came from two goals down to beat Wimbledon 3-2 on the final day of the 1993-94 season to stay in the Premier League, and again four years later after a final-round 1-1 draw with Coventry to stay up on goal difference.

A 16-year-old Wayne Rooney announced himself to the world when coming off the bench to score with a last-minute, long-range curler in off the bar to end Arsenal's 30-game unbeaten league run in October 2002.

And there was the final men's Merseyside derby at Goodison in February. James Tarkowski smashed a shot into the roof of the net in the eighth minute of stoppage time to secure Everton a 2-2 draw with Liverpool.

What's next?

Everton is moving to Bramley-Moore Dock on Liverpool's waterfront to start next season. The new stadium already staged test events, is slated to host a high-profile rugby league match between England and Australia on Nov. 1, and is a host venue for the men's European Championship in 2028.

The plan was for Goodison Park to be demolished but Everton's new owners — the Friedkin family from Texas — announced this week that the women's team, which plays in the top-flight Super League, will play there from next season, moving from its nearby current home in Walton Hall Park. Goodison's current capacity of nearly 40,000 will likely be reduced.

Which classic stadiums are left in the English men's game?

There aren't many around, with most clubs moving — often with a heavy heart — for financial reasons to bigger and more modern arenas.

The demise of Goodison will soon be followed by Manchester United building a new 100,000-seat stadium next to its Old Trafford home.

Over the last three decades, the likes of Manchester City (2003), Arsenal (2006), West Ham (2016) and Tottenham (2019) have moved into new grounds, while Wembley — the home of English soccer — was rebuilt and reopened in 2007.

Among the classic stadiums hanging on in there are Anfield, Villa Park (Aston Villa's home since 1897), St. James' Park (Newcastle, 1892), the City Ground (Nottingham Forest, 1898), Craven Cottage (Fulham, 1896), Hillsborough (Sheffield Wednesday, 1899) and Molineux (Wolves, 1889).