Egypt Complains About Poor Refereeing in Match vs Argentina
By John Muia
Photo: On right, Hossam Hassan, Egypt manager and M Zico during post-interview yesterday after Argentina vs Egypt. (Source: World Cup 2026 Twitter official account)
Few days after Hossam Hassan and Egypt forward, Mostafa Zico complained of poor refereeing during a post match interview July 7, after 3-2 defeat, Egypt Football Association has now raised concerns about the issue. Egypt side say that the match vs Argentina was not fairly officiated.
Why Egypt considered the match officiating as biased
The Pharaohs complain that their 57th minute goal was disallowed for a foul outside their penalty area. With similar incident occurring before Enzo Fernandez winning goal for Argentina, the VAR and the referee didn't check it as they did to theirs.
Egypt handed six cards
The referee, Francois Letexier who officiated the match during the dramatic scenes in the last minutes of the game handed six cards to Egypt. Among them was a red card for a member of staff and yellow card for Hossam Hassan, the head coach. He later appeared to explain to the Egypt head coach why he didn't give a penalty for Mohammed Salah's foul after making contact with Julian Alvarez.
According to Francois decisions is that Julian Alvarez won the ball first. According to game rules, if this happens, then it is considered a normal challenge. This referees interpretation is the reason why Egypt was not awarded a penalty nor Enzo Fernandez's goal disallowed.
Egypt manager, Hossam Hassan and striker Mohammed Zico statements after the match
Yesterday, during the after-match interview, the Egypt head coach, Hossam Hassan said, "It's all about money. They want Messi to stay in the tournament. In football, many things happen off the pitch because of interests." He added that what happened was unfair and Egypt deserved to qualify because they were the better team.
The manager furiously stated that the match was manipulated for Argentina to win and if so there is no need to be inviting every team to come take part. "We were treated unfairly and subjected to injustice and result was influenced by Internal and external factors."
Egypt striker, Mostafa Mohammed Zico also termed the tournament as RIGGED. "Congratulations to Argentina for the World Cup. The tournament was RIGGED... referee was unfair, unfair, unfair," he stated.
Egypt FA about Egypt vs Argentina Refereeing
According to The Guardian reports, Egypt Football Association also questioned of key incidents during the match which fueled serious concerns and prompted serious questions. As per the reports, part of their statement read, "EFA cannot remain silent about referee and VAR officials decisions observed during Egypt vs Argentina match."
Match stats
The Pharaohs were defeated 3-2 by the defending World Cup champions. In the 66th minute, Egypt were winning 2-0 only for Argentina to comeback with goals from Romero in 78 minute, Lionel Messi equalizer at 83 minute and Enzo Fernandez's winning goal in 90 + added time.
Controversy following Egypt vs Argentina
Reports say that football analysts from international level have raised talks on controversial refereeing after the match. This could result in investigations on the match and also keenness of both VAR officials and referees in the upcoming matches.
To avoid unfairness talks, FIFA should ensure the match is investigated to confirm whether Egypt's claims are authentic. Again, the federation should penalize any side found guilty between the two for not being fair.
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