Egypt has lodged a complaint alleging that the team received unfair treatment during their recent 3-2 World Cup defeat against Argentina. The Pharaohs claim that "serious refereeing mistakes" and "double standards" by French referee Francois Letexier and his officiating team led to their exit from the tournament.
Argentina secured a dramatic victory with a late winning goal after Egypt had held a 2-0 lead with just 11 minutes remaining. The African team believes two key incidents favored Argentina.
Controversial Goal Disallowance
Egypt had a goal disallowed by a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) intervention. Mostafa Zico's strike was ruled out after Marwan Attia was penalized for stepping on the foot of Argentina's Lisandro Martinez at the beginning of the play. While acknowledged as controversial, Egypt argues that this decision impacted the game's trajectory.
Penalty Claims
Furthermore, Egypt contends that their late winner should have been disallowed and that they should have been awarded a penalty. Hamdi Fathy went down in the box, claiming he was held by Alexis Mac Allister, an incident that appeared unclear on replays. Separately, Mohamed Salah felt he was tripped by Julian Alvarez. The referee did not award a penalty for either incident. Officials noted similarities in the foot-on-foot contact in both the Martinez and Salah situations, but deemed them insufficient for a penalty.
The VAR's intervention in the disallowed goal was based on judging a foul, a scenario where Salah might have had a better chance of a penalty award if the contact had occurred outside the area. The source material suggests these decisions were contentious but does not provide proof of a conspiracy in favor of Argentina or its star player, Lionel Messi.