Egypt’s football team was about 15 minutes away from a great performance. The Africans led 2-0 until the 79th minute of the match with Argentina, but they lost (2-3), and after the match they contested the refereeing.
Referee François Letexier had a serious job in this game. The knight of the whistle showed four cards, in extra time, and all to the Egyptians: Fathy (min. 90+4), Shoubir (min. 90+5), Attia (min. 90+8), Hossam Hassan (min. 90+9). To these was added that of Haissem Hassan, after the match. Also, a member of the technical staff of the North Africans, Saafan El-Saghir, saw red in the 94th minute.
The French awarded the penalty missed by Messi (min. 21). Requested by VAR (another Frenchman, Jérôme Brisard), he disallowed Zico’s goal in the 58th minute, Attia pulling his shirt and tripping Lisandro Martinez in that action. In extra time (min. 90+2), Letexier was criticized for not awarding a penalty to Julian Alvarez’s intervention on Mohamed Salah at the start of the action that led to the 3-2 goal (Enzo Fernandez, 90+2), but the contact did not require a new VAR intervention.
Egypt’s coach spoke of a conspiracy
These decisions enraged Hossam Hassan. Egypt’s coach suggested in his remarks that the result was influenced by factors off the pitch. He even said that there was a desire for Messi and Argentina to stay in the tournament. “We looked better than the reigning champion. We were better in everything, but the result was influenced by factors on the field and factors off it. Maybe they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Maybe they wanted Messi to stay in the race. In football, sometimes there are external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champion received support at all levels.”
Hassan blamed two moments of the match: Egypt’s disallowed goal and a penalty not awarded to the North African team late in the game, before Fernandez’s decisive goal. “We did not see respect or fair play. A penalty was not awarded to us. It was not even checked by VAR. Our second goal was not validated, for one reason or another. We were treated unfairly. An injustice was committed,” the Egyptian coach added.
The Egyptians demand the suspension of the French referees
Hassan also criticized the timing of the match, arguing that the midday kick-off placed unnecessary demands on the players. The coach revealed that he confronted Letexier after the final whistle, telling the referee that he believed his decisions were unfair. “I told the referee it was unfair. I told him maybe he has a scar or something to hide,” concluded the technician.
Egypt filed a complaint with FIFA to protest the refereeing of this match. “The referee was not impartial”, also declared the striker Zico to the BBC. “The unfairness was obvious. I played well at the beginning of the match. But it is clear that this tournament was fixed.”
Hany Abo Rida, head of the Cairo federation, has also officially requested that François Letexier and his assistants be suspended for the rest of the World Cup, considering that their errors decisively influenced the outcome of the Argentina-Egypt match.
Egypt led 2-0 with goals scored by Yasser Ibrahim (min. 15) and Mostafa Zico (min. 67), but the South Americans reversed the result with goals scored by Cristian Romero (min. 79), Lionel Messi (min. 83) and Enzo Fernandez (min. 90+2).
