Argentina’s football association has indicated it may have been the target of a cyber attack after emails from its official accounts reportedly criticised refereeing in the national team’s dramatic 3-2 win against Egypt at the World Cup. The reigning world champions looked set for a shock last-16 exit when they trailed 2-0 in Atlanta, but produced a remarkable late comeback to reach the quarter-finals — Cristian Romero halving the deficit 11 minutes from time, Lionel Messi equalising five minutes later, and Enzo Fernandez completing the comeback two minutes into injury time.
Following the defeat, the Egyptian Football Association asked Fifa to banish French referee François Letexier and his team, alleging bias in favour of Argentina. Argentine news outlet La Calle reported that emails sent from the Argentine Football Association’s account to journalists after the match stated “Argentina did not win” and the result was due to “corrupt refereeing decisions”. The publication said AFA sources indicated a group of Egyptian-origin hackers were behind the emails, which also praised Egypt’s performance.
“Argentina's FA suspects a cyber attack after emails from its accounts criticised refereeing in their 3-2 World Cup win over Egypt.”
Responding to the incident, an AFA statement read: “We want to inform you that we have detected the possible sending of emails from one of our institutional accounts that were not generated or authorised by our team.” It asked the public to “dismiss any message that you have recently received from our account and that is unusual, especially if it contains links, attachments or requests personal information”. The AFA added: “There is a possibility that our account has been subject to unauthorised access, so we are working to clarify what happened and adopt the necessary security measures.”
Egypt boss Hossam Hassan said his side had been “treated unfairly” and “suffered injustice”. He added: “Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running. The world champion received support at every level. There seem to be pressures from the Argentina side on this outcome.”
Argentina now face Switzerland in the quarter-finals on Sunday. Meanwhile, one Argentina defender was sent for scans after the win over Egypt, according to reports. The incident has raised questions about security protocols as the tournament progresses.