Egypt’s head coach has said the referee was “unfair” and the World Cup is “directed towards Argentina” after his team suffered a dramatic 3-2 defeat to the South American nation in their last 16 clash.
Argentina were down 2-0 against Egypt with 12 minutes of normal time to play when they managed to pull off an astounding 3-2 victory.
But Hossam Hassan has claimed Egypt were denied a penalty moments before Argentina’s Julian Alvarez began his team’s counterattack, which led to Enzo Fernandez’s 92nd-minute winner.
He went on to criticise French referee Francois Letexier, who handed Hassan a yellow card during the match. The head coach had crossed his arms in front of him in the FIFA-backed symbol to alert the referee of a racist incident.
“Life is unfair. The world is unfair,” Hassan said in a news conference after the game. “Okay, 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.
“The referee is unfair, God is sufficient for me and the best disposer of affairs. He’s wasting the effort of an entire nation. The cup is directed towards Argentina.”
Alvarez tackled Mohamed Salah inside the penalty area and caught the forward on his foot before taking the ball, but VAR did not appear to check the incident.
Hamdi Fathy was also pulled down by Alexis Mac Allister inside the area moments before, but play was waved on.
Those incidents came after Egypt had already had a goal ruled out for Zico earlier in the game, when the score was 1-0, following a VAR check which deemed Lisandro Martinez had been fouled in the build-up.
Hassan added:
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play. A penalty [for us] was ruled out, it was not even checked by the VAR and our second goal was remarkably, for whatever reason, disallowed.
“We have all seen the shirt pulled back [by Mac Allister] and not even a VAR check.
“There seems to have been pressure on the Argentine side on the referee that has brought about this outcome.”
Egyptian player Mostafa Ziko likewise accused the World Cup of being “fixed”.
“The referee was really not fair,” an irate Ziko said at full-time. “The injustice was clear.
“We did a really good job in the early stages of the match. There’s been an unfairness, right from the start from the match. A 2-0 lead isn’t enough to beat Argentina.
“It is clear that this tournament has been fixed. But God is sufficient for us.”
There are no games today as the remaining eight teams prepare for the quarter-finals.
cc: https://news.sky.com/