Egypt furious with refereeing after World Cup exit to Argentina

Egypt’s camp was left furious with several refereeing decisions after their World Cup exit, with star forward Mostafa Ziko claiming the tournament is “being directed towards Argentina” following Tuesday’s defeat to the defending champions.

Argentina fought back from 2-0 down to secure a dramatic 3-2 victory in Atlanta, booking a quarter-final clash against either Colombia or Switzerland next Saturday.

However, Egypt, including head coach Hossam Hassan, strongly criticised the officiating. Hassan argued that his side was wrongly denied a second goal after a VAR review when they were leading 1-0, and said Egypt should have been awarded a penalty in stoppage time just before Enzo Fernandez scored Argentina’s winner.

Hassan also declared that he would “never watch the World Cup again because there is no justice in this competition.”

Speaking after the match, Hassan accused referee François Letexier and Argentina’s players of influencing the outcome.

“We didn’t see respect or fair play. A penalty was ruled out, another incident that should have been checked for a penalty wasn’t even reviewed by VAR, and our second goal was disallowed for reasons we still don’t understand,” he said.

“There appeared to be pressure from the Argentinian side on the referee, and that affected the outcome. Life is unfair, the world is unfair, but sport should be fair. I’m not convinced by what happened in this match.”

Hassan also criticised the scheduling of the game, saying: “Whoever scheduled this match has never played football. You don’t schedule a football match at 12 noon.”

In an interview with beIN Sports, via France24, Hassan added: “Maybe they wanted the world champions to stay in the tournament. Maybe they wanted Lionel Messi to remain in the competition. Sometimes there are factors in football that go beyond what happens on the pitch. The world champions benefited from support at every level.”

He reiterated that he told the referee the decisions were unfair and described Argentina’s victory as undeserved, adding that he would no longer watch the World Cup because he believes there is no justice in the competition.

Goalscorer Mostafa Ziko also expressed his frustration in an interview with TSN through a translator.

“It wasn’t fair from the referee. He ruined all our efforts with his decisions. We were leading 2-0, but we could do nothing. It’s all up to God,” Ziko said.

“We’re very sorry to the people of Egypt. We wanted to make you proud, but it wasn’t meant to be. It was the referee. This World Cup is being directed towards Argentina.”

FIFA has been approached for comment.