Egypt's head coach, Hossam Hassan, has voiced strong accusations of unfair refereeing following his team's 3-2 defeat to Argentina in the Round of 16 of the World Cup. Hassan asserted that the officiating favored Argentina, contributing to Egypt's heartbreaking elimination from the tournament.

Despite Egypt holding a 2-0 lead in the 59th minute, the match's outcome was significantly influenced by several contentious decisions. Hassan highlighted a disallowed goal for Egypt and what he described as a missed penalty call for his team. The coach also pointed to a second goal for Argentina that he felt was questionable.

"We haven’t seen respect or fair play," Hassan stated after the match. "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."

Egypt's disallowed second goal occurred due to a foul called in the build-up, which happened over 20 seconds prior and on the opposite side of the field. Additionally, Egyptian players and staff believed Mohamed Salah was fouled in Argentina's penalty area just before Enzo Fernández scored the game-winning goal in the 92nd minute.

The protests from Egypt's players and staff resulted in four yellow cards and one red card. Hassan suggested that external pressure may have influenced the referees' decisions.

"There seems to have been pressure on the Argentinian side on the referee that has brought about this outcome," Hassan said. "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."

Mostafa Ziko, an Egyptian player, echoed these sentiments in an interview, stating, "the cup is directed toward Argentina." He added, "It was not fair from the referee. It was really not fair, that was very clear. He wasted all of our efforts with his decisions. We were leading 2-0, and we couldn’t do anything — it’s all up to God."

Beyond the officiating, Hassan also questioned the noon start time for the match, citing it as one of several "negative aspects all around" both on and off the pitch.

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