They are right…
Egypt accuse Fifa of World Cup ‘fix’ and demand referee is thrown out
Egypt accused Fifa of rigging the World Cup and demanded it remove the referee who officiated their controversial 3-2 defeat to Argentina.
Hossam Hassan, Egypt’s head coach, said his nation had been the victims of an “injustice”, while striker Mostafa Ziko claimed the competition had been “fixed”.
Hany Abou Rida, the president of the Egypt football federation, has filed a complaint with Fifa and demanded an investigation into French referee François Letexier and his officials.
What happened?
Egypt’s fury centred around two incidents: first a goal they had disallowed owing to a foul in the build-up, then a goal scored by Argentina despite a similar foul.
1. Egypt’s disallowed goal
With the score at 1-0 to Egypt, Zico thought he had doubled the lead with one of the goals of the tournament. He finished off a fine flowing move, following a pass from Mohamed Salah. However, celebrations were cut short when the VAR ruled that there had been a foul 17 seconds before the ball went in the net. The officials ruled that Marwan Attia had stepped on Lisandro Martínez at the opposite end of the pitch. Replays showed contact was minimal.
At the start of the World Cup, referees were told to allow normal football contact to increase tempo in matches.
Egypt, though, did go 2-0 up eventually. Zico smashed in from close range on 67 minutes to put his side in the driving seat, before Argentina came roaring back.
2. Salah penalty shout turned down
Egypt’s anger grew after Enzo Fernández’s winning goal in injury time. They claimed that Salah was fouled in the penalty area before Argentina went up the other end and scored their late winner.
Argentina’s Julián Alvarez made contact with Salah’s boot and he fell in the box. It was a very similar challenge to Attia’s on Martínez, but no foul was given.
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