The reverberations of the refereeing controversy that accompanied Egypt's loss to Argentina in the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup reached the U.S. political arena, as New York City Mayor Zahran Mamdani said the Egyptian team was “robbed,” referring to the contentious refereeing decisions in the match.

During a press conference to announce a new plan to speed up bus services in the city, Mamdani said reducing commute times would give New Yorkers extra time to spend with their families and friends, before adding jokingly: “And it will also give you time to agree with your friends that Egypt was robbed yesterday.”

The New York mayor's remarks came amid ongoing outrage in Egyptian sports circles, following the national team's 3-2 loss to Argentina in a match where VAR disallowed an Egyptian goal due to an infraction that occurred more than 20 seconds before the goal, before Argentina turned the match around in the final minutes.

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The Egyptian Football Federation announced it had filed an official complaint against French referee François Letexier and his officiating crew, stating that several key decisions, along with the use of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology, directly affected the course of the match.

The federation said in a statement that “many refereeing incidents raised serious questions about the consistency and fairness of decisions that had a direct impact on the match result,” adding that several local and international experts and analysts pointed to controversial officiating situations.

For his part, Egypt's coach Hossam Hassan accused the referees of bias, claiming that a penalty in favor of his team was not awarded and that another goal was unjustly disallowed, adding that what happened in the match “raises question marks about the fairness of refereeing decisions.”

The match sparked a wide wave of debate on social media platforms, with accusations of refereeing errors that affected the match result, while no comment has yet been issued by FIFA regarding the Egyptian complaint.