What is VAR? Why it took 2 hours to overturn Argentina goal - ESPN

It was the very first game of the 2024 men's Olympic tournament, with much-fancied Argentina taking on Morocco in Saint-Étienne.

Goals either side of half-time from Soufiane Rahimi had put the north Africans up 2-0, before Giuliano Simeone pulled a goal back on 68 minutes.

As the game reached the 90th minute, fourth official Frida Klarlund indicated there would be a mammoth 15 minutes added on. This was a return to what we've seen in previous FIFA-sanctioned competitions — lengthy stoppage time — after Euro 2024 had seen only small amounts added on.

According to Opta, the total length of the match was 110 minutes and 29 seconds, but the ball was in play for only 54 minutes and 27 seconds: the average at Euro 2024 was almost 60 minutes. The second half saw 26 minutes and 5 seconds of effective playing time, despite the clock reaching 65 minutes.

Would there be time for Argentina to force an equaliser?

What happened: The 15 minutes of stoppage time were up, and the game had ticked into the 16th when Thiago Almada saw his shot from the edge of the area saved by Munir El Kajoui.

But the move wasn't over. El Kajoui spilled the ball back out into the centre of goal, with Nicolás Otamendi seeing his follow-up effort expertly touched onto the bar by the fine reactions of the goalkeeper.

The ball bounced down and fell for substitute Bruno Amione on the edge of the 6-yard box, who attempted to head back across goal into the far corner. His effort came back off the bar and landed onto the head of Cristian Medina, who had the simple task of nodding into an empty net.

Argentina had done it. It was 2-2 in the 106th minute of the game.

Morocco's fans were furious that Argentina had been allowed to score after time had supposedly