Honduras and Morocco could not be separated as they kicked off the 2012 Olympic men's football tournament with an entertaining 2-2 draw.
Morocco enjoyed the lion's share of chances in the opening 45 minutes, with their first goalscoring opportunity coming when Zakariah Labyad found Noureddine Amrabat in the box, but Maynor Figueroa arrived just in time to block the Moroccan's effort.
Houssine Kharja then saw his close-range header well saved before Abdelaziz Barrada broke the deadlock with a fine strike.
Honduras almost equalised immediately after when Andy Najar met the ball inside the box, only for the midfielder to fire the ball well over the crossbar as Morocco took a one-goal lead into the break.
The equaliser did eventually come ten minutes into the second half when Jerry Bengtson stuck a leg out to turn in Figueroa's cross.
Honduras found themselves ahead just six minutes later after Yassine Jebbour brought down Bengtson inside the penalty area. The 25-year-old got up to take the kick himself, making no mistake in sliding it past Mohamed Amsif.
Morocco responded immediately, however, as Labyad dinked a delightful chip over Jose Mendoza to level the sides just two minutes later.
Things went suddenly downhill for the North Africans, however, when Zakarya Bergdich was shown a red card for kicking out at Mario Martinez.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, the Moroccans continued to look for a winner, and almost found it with five minutes left when Jebbour advanced into the box, only to find the side netting with his effort.
Next up for Morocco is Japan on July 29, while Honduras come up against hot favourites Spain later on the same day.
Barney Corkhill
