"Scandal" or "Correct Decisions": Refereeing Controversy After Egypt's Dramatic Exit from World Cup

Published 3 hours ago

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The Egyptian national team suffered a dramatic defeat in the final minutes against defending champion Argentina, bidding farewell to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the round of 16, missing out on a historic chance to reach the quarterfinals.

While the 'Pharaohs' were leading 2-0 until the 79th minute, about 11 minutes before the end of the match, Argentine star Lionel Messi and his teammates shook the Egyptian net three times, overturning the result to 3-2 in their favor.

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However, the match sparked refereeing controversy, with Egyptians believing they deserved a penalty in stoppage time after a shirt pull on Hamdi Fathi, and a collision between Mohamed Salah and Julian Alvarez inside Argentina's penalty area, just before Argentina's third goal.

During the match, French referee Francois Letexier, who officiated the exciting game, disallowed a goal for Egyptian striker Mostafa Abdel Rouf, known as 'Ziko,' in the 60th minute of the second half after VAR intervention, due to a foul at the start of the attack committed by Marwan Attia against Lisandro Martinez.

Opinions varied among activists on social media, between those who considered Egypt was subjected to refereeing 'injustice' and those who saw the refereeing decisions as 'correct.'

"Scandal"

An account named Bin Saeed wrote on platform X that what happened to the Egyptian team was a 'scandal,' saying: 'A legitimate penalty for Egypt was not given, turning into a goal for Argentina!'

Adding: 'The referee does not go to VAR and refuses to award it. Scandal! Disgrace! What happened is a shame and disgrace for FIFA.'

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Meanwhile, an account named Faris wondered why the referee did not go to VAR during the collision between Salah and Alvarez inside the penalty area, just as happened when Egypt's goal via Ziko was disallowed.

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In this context, former England goalkeeper Rob Green said during Fox's coverage of the match, referring to the foul that led to the cancellation of Ziko's goal: 'Certainly, this is not one of the cases that falls within the scope of VAR review,' adding: 'The incident occurred across the entire field away from the play.'

Former England captain Alan Shearer also criticized the decision-making process. The all-time Premier League top scorer wrote on social media: 'Either both incidents are fouls or neither is. But they told us that (VAR) would not re-referee matches.'

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Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright pointed to the Salah incident. He told ITV: 'If you are going to go back to a play in favor of Argentina at the edge of the box to disallow a goal, you should also go back to this play with Mohamed Salah. He was fouled. Whatever you say it was a slight touch, he was fouled and then the ball went to the other side of the pitch.'

Meanwhile, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher questioned the consistency of VAR application.

He said: 'If this incident had happened in the Premier League, La Liga, or Serie A, the goal would have stood even after VAR review,' in his words.

"Serious refereeing errors"

Image caption: French referee Francois Letexier shows a red card to Egypt's goalkeeping coach Saafan al-Saghir during the match against Argentina.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian Football Association demanded that FIFA exclude French referee Francois Letexier from the rest of the 2026 World Cup, denouncing what it described as 'serious refereeing errors' during the match against Argentina.

In a statement, the Egyptian Federation urged its international counterpart to open an investigation into Letexier 'after the serious refereeing errors committed by the officiating crew and the double standards, which caused the Egyptian national team to lose the match and exit the World Cup,' as stated in the statement.

It also demanded that the main referee, his assistants, and the video referees be banned from officiating World Cup matches 'after investigating these errors and proving the crime of discrimination against the Egyptian team and causing its loss and elimination from the tournament.'

It particularly criticized the 'insistence on not reviewing some incidents,' which it considered 'the Pharaohs' entitlement to a legitimate goal and a penalty.'

Egypt coach Hossam Hassan also criticized the refereeing, describing it as 'neither fair nor equitable.' He added in the press conference, 'There was pressure exerted on the referee by the Argentine camp, which led to this result.'

"Correct decisions"

In contrast, the Spanish site 'Archivo VAR,' specialized in evaluating refereeing incidents, said that 'the referee awarded a correct penalty for Argentina, and had to resort to VAR in the second half to review a foul preceding a goal for Egypt, and after reviewing the foul, he correctly disallowed the goal.'

The site added: 'In the final minutes, the Egyptian team protested a potential penalty that preceded Argentina's third goal, but it amounts to nothing at all.'

Users shared an interview with former Qatari international referee Saoud al-Athba on beIN Sports, in which he considered the disallowance of Egypt's goal via Mostafa Ziko as a 'correct decision' after a foul committed at the start of the attack.