Egyptian coach Hossam Hassan has voiced strong discontent, asserting that his team was “cheated” out of a World Cup quarter-final berth after Argentina’s dramatic late rally overturned a two-goal deficit in their Round of 16 match.
The Pharaohs held a commanding 2-0 lead with just 11 minutes remaining against the reigning champions, teetering on the brink of one of the most monumental upsets in World Cup history, only to concede three late goals and exit the tournament.
In a passionate press conference following the defeat, Hassan declared: “I’m not going to sugarcoat it with talks of misfortune. Today, we were cheated in an unjust manner and faced unfair treatment.”
While Egypt was leading 1-0, a goal by Mostafa Zico was disallowed after the VAR identified an earlier foul on Lisandro Martinez during the play.
Zico would later extend Egypt’s lead, positioning them tantalizingly close to their first-ever entry into the World Cup quarter-finals by scoring again in the 67th minute.
Argentina hit back with a goal by Cristian Romero in the 79th minute, followed by an equaliser by Lionel Messi, who had a first-half penalty saved. It was Messi’s eighth goal of the tournament, and he now leads the Golden Boot ladder.
But the controversy did not end there, with Egypt believing they should have been awarded a penalty for a pull by Alexis Mac Allister on Hamdy Fathy in the build-up to Argentina’s winner, scored by Enzo Fernández.
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play. There has not been respect or fair play,” Hassan said.
“A penalty was ruled out, was not even checked by VAR. A second goal was remarkably disallowed. There has not even been a VAR check when we have all seen the image of the [shirt] being pulled back.”
Hassan said he would not watch any more matches of the tournament.
“I am not going to continue following the matches of this World Cup, watching the matches of this World Cup,” he said.
“This is my own way of speaking up.”
‘They wanted Messi’
After Yasser Ibrahim’s header put Egypt in front, Argentina were awarded a penalty for a trip on Nicolas Tagliafico.
Messi’s problems with World Cup penalties continued as his effort was saved by Mostafa Shobeir.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner has now failed to score four of his eight non-shootout spot-kicks at the World Cup, including two misses at this tournament.
Hassan speculated that the officials had been put under pressure to keep one of the biggest names in the competition.
“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champions in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running,” he told BeIn Sports.
“In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champions received support at every level.”
Hassan also complained about the scheduling of the match for a midday kick-off (2am AEST), just four days after both sides had won their Round of 32 matches.
“Whoever schedules those matches has never played football. You never schedule a game for 12pm. At noon you go for a walk or to eat brunch, you do not go to play football.
“When are the players supposed to eat? At 7.30am?
“There have been a lot of things to be questioned on and off the pitch.”
The controversy comes a day after USA forward Folarin Balogun was cleared to play in his side’s 1-4 loss to Belgium, after his one-game ban was suspended for a year following an intervention by US President Donald Trump.
— With additional reporting by Agence France-Presse.
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