Argentina coach Mascherano decries ‘circus’ after chaotic opening loss

Argentina coach Javier Mascherano said he had never witnessed such a circus after a pitch invasion triggered a dramatic and long-delayed climax to the country’s 2-1 loss to Morocco in their Olympic opener in St-Etienne on Wednesday.

Cristian Medina thought he had salvaged a 2-2 draw for Argentina when he scored deep into injury time but the goal was ruled out for offside by VAR when play resumed for a few minutes after a two-hour stoppage to clear the stadium of fans.

Mascherano said there had been a lack of communication from organisers about what was going to happen as the team sat in the Geoffroy Guichard stadium dressing room before the resumption.

“I can’t explain what happened. We spent about an hour and a half in the dressing room where they never told us what was going to happen,” Mascherano told reporters.

“The Moroccan captains didn’t want to play, we didn’t want to continue, and fans threw things at us. It’s the biggest circus I’ve ever seen in my life, I don’t know why they spent an hour and 20 minutes reviewing a play.

“If there is offside in Medina’s goal let the game go on with the momentum we have, I don’t think the game should be played for three minutes after an hour and a half.”

However, the former Argentina defensive midfielder said he did not want to indulge in excessive complaining and had encouraged his team to focus on their upcoming Group B fixtures against Iraq and Ukraine.

“It’s no use complaining, we don’t like this kind of thing to happen but we have to turn the page, look for positive things and we will look for the two victories we need to qualify.”

Argentina next face Iraq in Lyon on Saturday.