{"id":216270,"date":"2026-07-08T00:55:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T00:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/egypt-rages-about-refereeing-says-the-world-cup-is-directed-towards-argentina-the-athletic-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T00:55:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T00:55:43","slug":"egypt-rages-about-refereeing-says-the-world-cup-is-directed-towards-argentina-the-athletic-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/egypt-rages-about-refereeing-says-the-world-cup-is-directed-towards-argentina-the-athletic-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Egypt rages about refereeing, says the World Cup is \u2018directed towards Argentina\u2019 – The Athletic – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Cup
FIFA World
Cup 2026
Argentina beat Egypt 3-2 in Atlanta in a game that was not without controversey. Buda Mendes\/Getty Images<\/span>
The Egyptian team was left angered by several refereeing decisions as it exited the World Cup, with star forward Mostafa Ziko saying the trophy is \u201cdirected towards Argentina\u201d following Tuesday\u2019s loss to the reigning champions.
Argentina came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in a turbulent clash in Atlanta, setting up a quarter-final with Colombia or Switzerland next Saturday.
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But Egypt, including head coach Hossam Hassan, was deeply unhappy about the way the game unfolded. Hassan claimed his side was wrongly denied a second goal at 1-0, following a video assistant referee check, and that Egypt should have been awarded a penalty in stoppage time moments before Enzo Fernandez scored Argentina\u2019s third.
Hassan also said he will \u201cnever watch the World Cup again, because there\u2019s no justice in this competition.\u201d
In his post-match news conference, Hassan pointed the finger at referee Francois Letexier and the Argentina players, saying, \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen respect or fair play. 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.
\u201cThere seems to have been pressure on the Argentinian side on the referee that has brought about this outcome.
\u201cLife is unfair. The world is unfair. OK, but why isn\u2019t there any fairness in sports? I\u2019m not convinced by this outcome and by the way things unfolded in this match.\u201d
Hassan also criticised the scheduling of the game, saying, \u201cWhoever schedules these matches is someone who has never played football. You never schedule a football match at 12 noon.\u201d
Speaking to Middle East and North Africa broadcaster beIN Sports, via France24<\/a>, Hassan added: \u201cPerhaps they wanted to keep the world champions in the competition? Perhaps they wanted (Lionel) Messi to stay in the running? In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champions benefited from support at every level.
\u201cI told the referee that what was happening wasn\u2019t fair. It\u2019s an undeserved victory for Argentina. Once I\u2019m back in my country and at home, I\u2019ll never watch the World Cup again, because there\u2019s no justice in this competition.\u201d
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Egypt goalscorer Ziko told Canadian broadcaster TSN immediately after the game, via a translator: \u201cIt 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\u2019s all up to God.
\u201cWe 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. The cup is directed towards Argentina.\u201d
FIFA has been approached for comment.
Analysis by refereeing expert and former Premier League official Graham Scott<\/em>
The decision to disallow Egypt\u2019s goal is incorrect. Attia\u2019s challenge on Lisandro Martinez in the build-up to Ziko\u2019s 67th-minute effort was normal contact and should be regarded as such, rather than considered a foul.
It was also almost 100 yards from goal, and Argentina had every opportunity to regroup and defend \u2014 no wonder Egypt felt aggrieved that the eventual goal was disallowed after a VAR review.
If we look at the incident, there was some contact, both foot-on-foot and a fleeting hold of the shirt (see the image below), but there was no offence worthy of a VAR call-back committed here. \"\"
You can also see how far up the pitch it takes place, too.
\"\"
Argentina also have plenty of players back to defend.
\"\"
It was an astonishing intervention and a massive overreach of the VAR\u2019s role to correct only clear and obvious errors.
The VAR routinely checks the attacking phase of play before every goal, and here would have gone back to the turnover of possession.
For a goal to be chalked off, there needs to be a clear foul, which there wasn\u2019t here. As a general rule of thumb, the longer the time and distance between a challenge and a goal, the more serious the alleged offence needs to be.
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But there was no offence to speak of here, and nothing anywhere near the threshold for VAR to get involved.
By the same logic, Egypt\u2019s penalty claim for an alleged foul on Mohamed Salah shortly before Argentina\u2019s winning goal was rightly dismissed. There is some minor contact on his boot, below, but not enough to send Salah over. It was not a foul.
\"\"
Just as Egypt\u2019s \u2018goal\u2019 should not have been ruled out, nor should Fernandez\u2019s.
Spot the pattern. Connect the terms
Find the hidden link between sports terms
Play today's puzzle<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

World CupFIFA WorldCup 2026Argentina beat Egypt 3-2 in Atlanta in a game that was not without controversey. Buda Mendes\/Getty ImagesThe Egyptian team was left angered by several refereeing decisions as it exited the World Cup, with star forward Mostafa Ziko saying the trophy is \u201cdirected towards Argentina\u201d following Tuesday\u2019s loss to the reigning champions.Argentina came […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":216271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-216270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}