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The 2026 FIFA World Cup has been a tremendous success, on and off the field. Visiting fans have raved about the experience of coming to the United States and enjoying the country’s hospitality. The host venues across the country have been widely praised for exceptional amenities and outstanding atmospheres.
But even the most successful tournament isn’t without controversy. The largest, through the first few rounds, was Folarin Balogun’s red card. The card shown to Balogun in the US Men’s National Team match against Bosnia and Herzegovina was given based on misapplication of VAR rules. Then FIFA postponed his one-game suspension, allowing him to play against Belgium in the round of 16.
European fans, commentators, and their soccer federation, went ballistic. But even they pale in comparison to the allegations being thrown around by players and coaches from the Egyptian team after their shocking 3-2 loss to Argentina and Lionel Messi on Tuesday afternoon.
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Egyptian coach Hossam Hassan spoke to the media after the match, and did not hold back with his criticism of the officiating.
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play,” Hassan said. “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.”
“I want to put it in beautiful words and say, ‘Hard luck,’ but we have been treated unfairly, and it has been an injustice,” he continued.
Egypt had a 1-0 lead, and seemed to take a 2-0 lead, only for the second goal to be disallowed after a VAR review determined that a foul had occurred around 20 seconds beforehand on the other side of the pitch. Egypt did score again, but the 2-0 scoreline might have instead been 3-0, making the incredible Argentina comeback even more unlikely. Then there were several other questionable calls, including a potential penalty that could have been given after a foul on star Mohamed Salah.
“We looked better than the reigning champions — better in everything — but the result was influenced by internal factors on the pitch and external factors off it,” Hassan also told reporters. “Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running.
“In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champion received support at every level.”
“There seems to have been pressure on the Argentinian side on the referee that has brought about this outcome,” he added. “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.”
Forward Mostafa Ziko said something similar, saying his Egyptian team was “hard done” by the referee.
“We were hard done by [the referee] today, and everyone saw that. I won’t talk about something like this. We were winning 2-0. After the 2-0 result, everything went against us and worked against us. I don’t even know why the second goal was disallowed, I don’t see any reason for it. But we must look for a solution so that a second goal doesn’t come. He wanted to disallow the third one too, but thank God, God didn’t grant him success.”
“It was a rigged game,” Ziko said. “It wasn’t our fault. That referee… it seems like this match was rigged. We were winning 2-0, and he kept coming at us. Congratulations to Argentina on another World Cup, it seems.”
It’s a near-certainty that FIFA is happy that Messi and Argentina are through to the quarterfinals. Messi remains arguably the biggest star on the international stage, and interest and viewership will be higher as long as he and his team are in the tournament. But that doesn’t mean the match was “rigged.” The VAR review to disallow Egypt’s second goal did seem misplaced, though some of the other contentious calls were the type of borderline decisions that could go either way.
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The most important variable that none of the Egyptian players or their coach want to acknowledge, though, is that had they wanted to win, they could simply not have allowed three goals in 25 minutes.
