{"id":216349,"date":"2026-07-08T16:01:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/var-call-argentina-win-over-egypt-raise-questions-of-legitimacy-at-world-cup-al-jazeera\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T16:01:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:01:57","slug":"var-call-argentina-win-over-egypt-raise-questions-of-legitimacy-at-world-cup-al-jazeera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/var-call-argentina-win-over-egypt-raise-questions-of-legitimacy-at-world-cup-al-jazeera\/","title":{"rendered":"VAR call, Argentina win over Egypt raise questions of legitimacy at World Cup – Al Jazeera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Experts question political influence and the need to keep Lionel Messi\u2019s side in the World Cup amid Egypt\u2019s heartbreak.<\/em>
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The clamour surrounding the World Cup\u2019s controversy involving US President Donald Trump and FIFA chief Gianni Infantino had barely died down when another arose in the aftermath of Argentina\u2019s controversial 3-2 win over Egypt in the round-of-16 match in Atlanta.
As the defending champions staged a stunning comeback<\/a> against the Pharaohs in the knockout match on Tuesday, questions were raised about an unusually late VAR call that saw Egypt\u2019s second goal rescinded, followed by a chain of events that led to Argentina\u2019s victory.
A day earlier, Trump had revealed that he had asked FIFA to review<\/a>, and overturn, USA striker Folarin Balogun\u2019s one-game suspension for a red card, and the governing body controversially obliged. The matter was dusted off by Belgium as they dumped the hosts out of the tournament with a 4-1 win<\/a> in the match Balogun was initially suspended from but ended up playing \u2013 to no avail.<\/p>\n

While the anger surrounding FIFA\u2019s red-card decision was directed at both the football governing body and Trump, Egypt\u2019s outburst was solely aimed at the organisation, which, according to Egypt\u2019s manager, had \u201cwanted to keep the world champions in the competition\u201d.
Head coach Hossam Hassan speculated that match officials had been put under pressure to ensure that one of the biggest names, Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi, stayed in the tournament.
\u201cPerhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running,\u201d Hassan told beIN Sports after the match.
\u201cIn football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champions received support at every level.\u201d
While the tournament has been no stranger to the political spotlight of questionable integrity, experts say the lines between sport and politics have been blurred even further.
\u201cAfter the Balogun affair, who knows which decisions are legitimate and can be trusted, and which can\u2019t?\u201d Simon Chadwick, professor of Afro-Eurasian sport at the Emlyon Business School in Shanghai, told Al Jazeera.
\u201cIf the Trump administration is maintaining a watching brief over the tournament, it\u2019s worth remembering: Argentina\u2019s president, Javier Milei, is a staunch Trump supporter.\u201d
Trump and his Argentinian counterpart share a close relationship. Milei is a regular feature at pro-Trump political gatherings in the United States, and Trump has described Argentina\u2019s far-right populist leader as his \u201cfavourite president\u201d.
Chadwick also opined that Hassan\u2019s vociferous support<\/a> for Palestine at the World Cup could have prompted some officials to \u201chave built-in biases when making decisions\u201d.
Hassan dedicated part of his pre-match news conference on Monday to making an impassioned plea for the people of Palestine, especially those in the besieged Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

Circling back to the VAR call that sliced Egypt\u2019s lead in half and was followed by decisions that conveniently favoured Argentina, Chadwick said the period of play was \u201cunusual\u201d.
He wondered why the referee had not called a foul in real-time that VAR picked up several moments later and only once Egypt scored their second goal.
\u201cThere was something distinctly unusual about the goal and VAR decision, something that was amplified when Argentina scored one of its goals,\u201d Chadwick said, questioning refereeing standards in the match.
\u201cIn the build-up, an infringement was perpetrated by an Argentina player, which could have been interpreted as a similar offence to that supposedly committed earlier by the Egyptian player. At the very least, refereeing standards during the game were somewhat inconsistent, although critics are clearly making much more serious claims.\u201d
But while many social media commentators and football experts were outraged at the decisions \u2013 Portuguese football icon Jose Mourinho reportedly termed the match \u201cdaylight robbery\u201d<\/a> \u2013 some football experts said it was a closer call.
\u201cRobbed might be a strong word,\u201d football analyst Ali El Garni said.
\u201cI\u2019d say decisions made by both the referee and VAR could have gone either way, and Argentina benefitted from all the 50\/50 incidents.
\u201cThe incident leading to the Egyptian disallowed goal was an indisputable foul. The question is how far VAR should go back to check the legitimacy of a goal,\u201d said El Garni, who has extensively reported on European and North African football.
However, he did wonder if VAR would have been involved had the scoreline been 2-0 in Argentina\u2019s favour instead.
\u201cWould the goal have been disallowed had it been scored by Argentina? It\u2019s unlikely,\u201d he said.
\u201cWhat\u2019s making it worse for Egypt is the fact that a similar incident involving what appeared to be a foul on [Mohamed] Salah took place before Argentina\u2019s third goal, and VAR didn\u2019t intervene,\u201d he said.
Meanwhile, Chadwick questioned why VAR officials had raised the issue if the on-field officials did not call a foul when Egypt\u2018s Marwan Attia lightly tugged the shirt and stepped on the foot of Lisandro Martinez.
A logical solution to the VAR issue, Chadwick proposed, would be \u201cfor fans and viewers to listen to an assessment of the alleged offence, hear the various arguments, and have a clear insight into the basis for a decision\u201d.
Chadwick admitted that although Egyptian players should not have become overwhelmed with emotion, \u201ca sense of injustice was induced by the VAR decision\u201d.
\u201cThis technology was supposed to minimise doubt and bring consistency. Instead, its use during this match had significant cognitive and behavioural effects,\u201d he said.
\u201cIndeed, rather than brandishing cards and inflaming the situation even further, the referee should have used his discretion and judgement to defuse the situation.\u201d
While Chadwick dismissed rumours of match-rigging in favour of Messi and Argentina, he acknowledged the pull of the iconic footballer\u2019s star power.
\u201cThere is no doubt that Messi is a box office attraction the tournament really can\u2019t afford to be without.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow Al Jazeera English:<\/p>\n

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

Experts question political influence and the need to keep Lionel Messi\u2019s side in the World Cup amid Egypt\u2019s heartbreak.SaveShareThe clamour surrounding the World Cup\u2019s controversy involving US President Donald Trump and FIFA chief Gianni Infantino had barely died down when another arose in the aftermath of Argentina\u2019s controversial 3-2 win over Egypt in the round-of-16 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":216350,"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-216349","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\/216349","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=216349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}