Egypt Football Body Slams Referee Decisions After Stunning World Cup Collapse Against Argentina

Egypt's World Cup campaign ended in dramatic and controversial fashion when Argentina scored three goals in the last 13 minutes to overturn a two-goal deficit and win 3-2 in the round of 16. The result has sparked a strong protest from the Egyptian Football Association, which says the match officials were unfair and inconsistent in their decisions.

The controversy centres on a moment in the 58th minute when Egypt appeared to score a second goal. However, a Video Assistant Referee review ruled that Egyptian player Marwan Attia had fouled Argentina's Lisandro Martínez just before the goal, so it was disallowed. The Egyptian Football Association says the referee did not use the VAR system properly in this and other key moments, and that this affected the outcome of the game.

Despite the disallowed goal, Egypt still took a 2-0 lead through a goal from Mostafa Ziko. But the game turned dramatically when Lionel Messi set up Cristian Romero to score in the 79th minute, triggering a string of three unanswered Argentina goals that completed one of the biggest comebacks in World Cup history. Argentina's winning goal came just two minutes into stoppage time.

The closing stages were chaotic. Egypt's head coach Hossam Hassan made an anti-racism gesture, crossing his arms in an X shape, after Argentina's decisive goal, and was shown a yellow card for it. He later said his team had been treated unfairly by a football system that favoured Messi and Argentina. Egypt's goalkeeping coach was sent off with a red card, and several Egyptian players received yellow cards during the tense finish.

In its official statement, the Egyptian Football Association said it could not stay quiet about what it called serious and troubling inconsistencies in the referee's decisions that directly shaped the result. It said defending the Egyptian team's rights was a serious responsibility, not something to be brushed aside. The association also noted that several football experts and analysts have publicly supported Egypt's complaints, stressing the need for fairness and transparency in officiating at football's biggest tournament.

The statement reflected wider frustration among Egyptian players, coaching staff and fans, who the association says deserve fair and equal treatment under the game's rules regardless of which team they support.

For now, the Egyptian Football Association's statement is a formal protest rather than a legal challenge, but it adds Egypt's voice to a broader ongoing debate about how consistently VAR and match officials are applied at the highest levels of international football.