Home
+
Published : 08 Jul 2026, 10:29 AM
Egypt have been left furious after letting a two-goal lead slip in a dramatic defeat to Argentina, with coach Hossam Hassan accusing officials of treating his side “unfairly” and questioning the credibility of key refereeing decisions, the BBC reports.
With just 12 minutes of normal time remaining, Egypt were leading the reigning world champions 2-0 and appeared on course for a first-ever World Cup quarter-final.
But Cristian Romero pulled one back in the 79th minute before captain Lionel Messi levelled four minutes later.
Enzo Fernandez then headed home in the second minute of stoppage time to complete a remarkable comeback and send Argentina into the last eight.
Egypt's fury centred on two decisions, the British broadcaster said.
A second Egyptian goal, scored by Mostafa Zico, was ruled out by the video assistant referee (VAR) after midfielder Marwan Attia was penalised for a foul on Lisandro Martinez earlier in the move.
Egypt also believe Mohamed Salah was fouled in Argentina's box moments before Fernandez's winner.
Egypt coach Hassan did not hold back afterwards, telling reporters his side had been "treated unfairly" and "suffered injustice".
He questioned the credibility of the officiating and suggested FIFA and Argentina had an interest in keeping Messi in the tournament.
"Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running," Hassan said, as quoted by the broadcaster.
"The world champion received support at every level. There seem to be pressures from the Argentina side on this outcome."
Hassan was booked himself in the closing stages for crossing his arms in front of him while protesting, a FIFA-recognised gesture used to flag racist incidents to the referee, the BBC said.
He did not explain the gesture afterwards.
"We haven't seen respect or fair play," he said. "A penalty for us was ruled out, it was not even checked by the VAR and our second goal was remarkably, for whatever reason, disallowed.
“We have all seen the shirt pulled back by Alexis Mac Allister and not even a VAR check. Life is unfair, normal life is unfair, so why is there no fairness in sports?"
Zico echoed the complaint. "The referee was really unfair. The injustice was clear. There's been an unfairness right from the start of the match.”
Analysing the flashpoints, the BBC noted that FIFA refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina had instructed officials to permit normal physical contact to keep the match tempo high, making the intervention on Zico's goal inconsistent with the rest of the tournament.
The media network added that while Attia's foul directly led to the goal, the later incident involving Salah faced a higher threshold for a review because it occurred inside the penalty area.
Egypt had arrived in North America with a poor World Cup record, having failed to win any of their seven previous matches across three tournaments.
They picked up a first-ever win against New Zealand on Jun 22 before taking the lead against Argentina through a Yasser Ibrahim header in the 15th minute.
Goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir also saved a Messi penalty during the match.
Salah, who turns 38 by the time the 2030 World Cup is held across Morocco, Portugal and Spain, finishes the tournament with a single goal, scored against New Zealand, and registered neither a shot nor a key pass against Argentina, the BBC said.
Egypt's exit leaves Morocco as Africa's last team standing at the tournament.
The Atlas Lions, who became the first African side to reach a World Cup semi-final four years ago, face France in the quarter-finals in Boston on Thursday.
