Fury Against FIFA over Unfair Refereeing in Football World Cup

FIFA and its referees are accused of unfair refereeing at the biggest stage of the game after the Round of 16 tie of World cup between Argentina and Egypt.

The knockout game went in Argentina's favour, who trailed by two goals for a large part of the game. After going behind twice, Argentina scored two goals in quick succession during the later part of the second half to level against Egypt and scored a third goal during the 92nd minute to win the game.

Meanwhile Egypt was 2-0 ahead till the 79th minute, and the closest to making history with a win against the world champions Argentina, looking to go to the quarter finals of the world cup.

While Egypt was 1-0 up, they had scored a goal via Mostafa Ziko, in a quick counter attack play. As they thought they went ahead against the 2022 World Cup winners, the goal was disallowed citing a foul in the build-up play.

Incidentally, a similar foul was committed by an Argentina player in the game during the build-up play of a goal in a Group H game against Austria. This goal was allowed to stand after a VAR review, quite contrary to the decision that was taken in the knockout game between Egypt and Argentina.

Argentina Fouls Unpunished

There were multiple instances during the game where Argentina players committed clear fouls that went unpunished, including two potential penalties that could have favoured the underdogs Egypt.

Argentina's Right Back Molina had slapped the face of Egypt left winger Emam Ashour twice, once right in front of the line referee, but the game wasn't stopped nor was Molina booked or even cautioned. The referees seemed to be looking elsewhere.

According to FIFA rules, attacking a player on the face is a card inducing offence, doing it twice would have resulted in a red card, if the rules were enforced by the referee upon Molina.

When Egyptian coaching staff protested this foul going unnoticed, the match referee showed a yellow card to them.

Egyptian Skipper Mohamed Salah was fouled twice inside the penalty box during the game, which wasn't considered for a VAR review despite appeals from the Egyptian players.

One of those instances was a minute before Argentina scored their first goal in the 78th minute.

Other than these incidents there were other instances of fouls committed against Egyptian players that did not induce a stop of play and freekicks to Egypt.

Egypt’s grip over the game was quickly lost to Argentina after the world champions’ first goal, after which an intense play brought in Messi’s goal that levelled the score. When it looked like the game would be extended into extra time, Argentina flipped the tie with the winning goal by Enzo Fernandes in the injury time.

'Referee No Fair' Says Egypt Player

During the post-match interview, Egyptian footballer Mostafa Ziko, whose goal was disallowed in the game said that the World Cup is rigged to favour the Argentina team and superstar Lionel Messi.

“Referee No Fair. The injustice was clear. We did a good job in the early stages of the match. There’s been unfairness right from the start of the match, A 2-0 lead isn’t enough to beat Argentina” he lamented.

“It is clear that the tournament is rigged to favour Argentina and Messi,” he added.

“I apologize to all the people of Egypt and the Arab nations. It's not in our hands, the tournament is rigged and the referee wronged us,” He later told a Canadian news channel.

After his first goal getting disallowed, he had scored another goal, to make the lead 2-0. Along with the heroic flying saves of the Egypt Goalkeeper Mostafa Shoubir, the two-nil lead was seen to be enough for the biggest upset in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Egypt Coach Flags Racism, Blasts Referees

Egypt’s Coach Hossam Hassan, who was furious over the lopsided treatment that was in display by the match referee Francois Letexier, said that he will never watch any World Cup match again.

He said, “I told him (referee Francois Letexier) that the proceedings have been unfair. Once I’m back in my home nation of Egypt, I am not going to watch the World Cup again, because there is no fairness in the tournament.”

During the closing minutes of the game, coach Hassan was having a brief but tense conversation with Argentina's Lionel Messi, right after which the coach made the crossed hand (X) signal, an official signal to report any incidents of racism, as per the directives of FIFA. While the conversation between the Argentina skipper and the Egypt coach remains unclear, the referees ignored the coach reporting racism, and showed him a yellow card.