The Moroccan Olympic team missed the opportunity to win the gold medal in Paris Olympics 2024, when he lost, today, Monday, August 5, against Spain with a score of (1-2) in the semi-final of the football competition.
The match was held at the Velodrome Stadium in Marseille, southern France, amidst a large crowd of Moroccan fans who occupied the stands and did not stop providing support and encouragement to the teammates of captain Archib Hakimi, the star of Paris Saint-Germain.
The Moroccan Olympic team leads in the first half
The match began with each team trying to control and possess the ball, without any clear scoring opportunities, whether by the Moroccan team or its Spanish competitor.
Minute (11) of the first half witnessed the main referee, Uzbek Algiz Tatashev, being injured after colliding with one of the Spanish national team players. Despite undergoing treatment, he was unable to complete the match, leaving the field in minute (15), and being replaced by the fourth referee, Swedish Glen Nyberg.
Minute (21) of the first half saw the first real opportunity in the match after Spain’s Fermin Lopez made a powerful shot, which was brilliantly blocked by Moroccan goalkeeper Munir Mohammadi, who sent it to the corner.
Then, Amir Richardson, the Moroccan national team midfielder, was subjected to a strong intervention by one of the Spanish players in the (33) minute inside the penalty area, which prompted the referee, Badil Nyberg, to resort to the video assistant referee (VAR) technology and announce a penalty kick in favor of “Black Atlas“In the minute (35).
Striker Soufiane Rahimi stepped forward to take this penalty kick, and succeeded in opening the scoring for the Moroccan national team in the (36) minute, thus raising his tally of goals to 6 as the best scorer in the football competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The referee added (12) full minutes of stoppage time in the first half, and the Spanish national team almost equalized the score in the (45+8) minute, but the shot of its player Alex Baena hit the left post of the Moroccan goalkeeper, Mohamedi.
Morocco Olympic team falls in the second half
The Moroccan national team entered the second half, taking the initiative to attack through a shot from striker Elias Akhomach in minute (50), but it went past the post of the Spanish national team goalkeeper.
The Spanish team responded quickly with a powerful shot from outside the penalty area by one of its players, which goalkeeper Mohamedi saved with great difficulty in minute (53).
The Spanish pressure continued to adjust the score, and they did so in the (66) minute after player Fermin Lopez stole the ball from the Moroccan players and scored a goal in Morocco’s net.
The game continued as a debate between the two teams, until minute (85) came, when the Spanish team managed to score the second goal through its player Juanlu Sanchez after penetrating the penalty area, shooting a powerful ball into the Moroccan net.
With this loss, the Moroccan Olympic team missed the opportunity to win the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and will be content to play for the bronze medal in the match to determine third and fourth place between the loser of the second semi-final, which will bring together France and Egypt.
