The Egyptian Football Association has formally demanded that the match officials from their World Cup last-16 defeat to Argentina be expelled from the tournament, accusing them of “double standards” and “discrimination” in a complaint to Fifa.
Egypt had led 2-0 against the reigning champions, with Yasser Ibrahim putting them ahead in the 15th minute. But the game turned on two contentious VAR decisions. Mostafa Zico thought he had scored a second goal from a slick counter-attack, only for the technology to rule it out for a foul by Marwan Attia on Lisandro Martinez at the start of the move. Then, with Argentina completing a stunning comeback through Lionel Messi and Enzo Fernandez, Egypt were denied a penalty when Mohamed Salah went down in the box — seconds before Argentina broke away for the winner.
“Egypt demand Fifa expel match officials after VAR controversy in World Cup defeat to Argentina.”
Hany Abou Rida, the EFA president, filed a complaint targeting French referee Francois Letexier and his team. The EFA statement said it demanded “an investigation into the French referee Francois Letexier after the serious refereeing mistakes committed by the team of referees and double standards, which caused the Egypt team to lose the match and leave the World Cup.” It called for “the exclusion of the referee and the entire crew from the World Cup after investigating these mistakes” and alleged “the crime of discrimination against the Egyptian national team.”
Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey said VAR should not have intervened on the Zico goal, arguing it was not a “clear and obvious error” from the on-field referee. He told The Sun: “If you’re looking at the Zico goal and the challenge on Martinez, if that’s disallowed for a foul then exactly the same has got to be applied to Salah. You could argue both are the same, so why haven’t VAR got involved in the Salah incident? If they do, they have got to give a penalty to Egypt.”
Egypt manager Hossam Hassan said his side had been “treated unfairly” and “suffered injustice”, adding: “Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running.” Zico was more direct: “It is clear that this tournament has been fixed.”
Argentina will face Switzerland in Kansas City on Saturday, while Egypt — who have never reached the World Cup quarter-finals — are left to ponder what might have been. Fifa has been contacted for comment by the BBC.