Argentina coach slams ‘circus’ as chaos descends on Olympic soccer opener

It was hardly an auspicious opener for the Paris Summer Games, with the Argentina coach calling disorderly scenes “the biggest circus I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Argentina thought it had leveled its Olympic soccer opener against Morocco in the dying seconds on Wednesday – before its goal was dramatically ruled out and a pitch invasion caused the final three minutes to be played in an empty stadium after a nearly two-hour delay. It was hardly an auspicious opener for the Paris Summer Games, with Argentina coach Javier Mascherano calling the disorderly scenes “the biggest circus I’ve ever seen in my life.” Soufiane Rahimi scored either side of half-time to put Morocco 2-0 up at at Saint-Etienne’s Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, before Argentina’s Giuliano Simeone pulled one back in the 68th minute. The chaos kicked off in the final moments of a lengthy added time, when Argentina’s Cristian Medina headed home in the 106th minute to apparently tie the game at 2-2 - sending Argentina players and fans into raptures. Match broadcasts showed some celebrating Argentina players ducking to avoid objects being thrown by fans toward the pitch, while some Morocco supporters entered the field. “The players were taken off after the goal for their safety,” the official Olympics.com live blog said, noting the match was interrupted before the final whistle blew.