Egypt will lodge an official complaint to FIFA following referee Francois Letexier’s performance during their World Cup last-16 defeat to Argentina. The African side were knocked out by the world champions in remarkable fashion as Lionel Messi and his teammates netted three times in the closing 15 minutes to overturn a two-goal disadvantage.
Egypt had a second goal disallowed after VAR intervened, identifying a foul at the opposite end of the pitch before they went on to score. Significantly, a comparable foul was then overlooked by the officials, despite occurring in the build-up to Argentina’s winning goal.
The Pharaohs believed they should have been awarded a penalty moments before the decisive fifth goal when Mohamed Salah was brought down inside the area following a challenge by Julian Alvarez.
Egypt are now demanding an explanation regarding the referee’s decision and have requested an investigation into what they characterise as controversial rulings. The federation has also formally requested that the French officiating team that oversaw their defeat be withdrawn from the rest of the tournament.
Hassan said: “Why isn’t there any fairness in sport? In football? I do not want to try to put it nicely here with beautiful wording. We have been treated unfairly today. We have suffered injustice.”
He then alleged that football’s governing bodies were determined to keep Argentina and Messi in the competition. “It could be a matter of marketing, they could want to make a World Cup with the champion of the last World Cup, they want Messi to exist (in the tournament),” suggested the Egypt boss.
“I wish we could be happier with the loss, but with a severe loss like today I say to them (my players) be upset. We wish we could be happier. Thank God for everything but football is different from what happens in the stadium when we are playing against the world champions.”