Egypt have demanded the match officiating team that took charge of yesterday’s controversial defeat to Argentina be sent home from the World Cup.
The North Africans were furious after a series of contentious calls went against them in the round-of-16 clash in Atlanta.
Their main areas of complaint were the decision by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to disallow a goal from Mostafa Zico for an alleged foul on Lisandro Martinez at the other end of the field, Zico finishing a sweeping counter-attack with a brilliant finish over Emi Martinez.
And then for VAR not intervening when they felt Mohamed Salah had been tripped in the Argentina area shortly before Enzo Fernandez nodded in the winner deep into injury-time.
Egypt boss Hossam Hassan took aim at referee Francois Letexier after the game and the Egyptian FA have now lodged an official complaint with FIFA.
It read: “Hany Abou Rida, president of the Egyptian Football Federation, filed a complaint with FIFA, demanding 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.”
The statement added there had been “blatant errors and [that the match officials had] insisted on not reviewing some of the footage.
“We demand the exclusion of the referee and the entire crew from the World Cup after investigating these mistakes.” It also claimed there had been “the crime of discrimination against the Egyptian national team”.
Egypt boss Hassan claims World Cup is ‘directed towards Argentina’
It is unlikely Egypt’s complaints will lead to meaningful action, which will only serve to fuel Egypt’s sense of injustice further.
Speaking last night, Hassan said “the cup was directed towards Argentina”.
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play,” he told a press conference. “A penalty was ruled out and a second [incident] that should have been checked for a penalty for us was not even checked by the VAR. A second goal was remarkably, for whatever reason, disallowed.
“There seems to have been pressure on the Argentinian side on the referee that has brought about this outcome.
“Life is unfair. The world is unfair. OK, but why isn’t there any fairness in sports? I’m not convinced by this outcome and by the way things unfolded in this match.
“The referee is unfair, God is sufficient for me and the best disposer of affairs. He’s wasting the effort of an entire nation. The cup is directed towards Argentina.”
Zico congratulates Argentina for winning another World Cup
Zico seemingly concurred with his coach’s assessment.
He told Canadian broadcaster TSN: “It was not fair from the referee. It was really not fair, that was very clear. He wasted all of our efforts with his decisons. We were leading 2-0 and we cannot do anything, it’s all up to God.
“We are so sorry [to the people of Egypt]. I am so sorry. We wanted to make you all happy. It was not in the cards. It was the referee. Congratulations to Argentina on the second Cup.”
