FIFA Golden Boy Argentina for Exposure, Egypt Complains of Injustice at 2026 World Cup

JAKARTA - Egypt coach Hossam Hassan said his team was a victim of injustice in the 2-3 defeat in the 2026 World Cup 16th round against Argentina.

He implied that FIFA wanted Lionel Messi to remain in contention at the tournament for exposure needs.

Argentina came from 0-2 down to win the match after a remarkable intervention from Messi in the final minutes, who created one goal.

However, Egypt were angered that their goal was disallowed after a VAR review and a failure to check for a foul that appeared to be committed by Alexis Mac Allister in the build-up to Enzo Fernandez's winning goal in injury time.

Hassan said Egypt was defeated by external factors as well as events on the ground.

"We looked better than the defending champions - better in every way - but the result was influenced by internal factors on the field and external factors off the field."

"Maybe they want to keep the world champions in the tournament. Maybe they want Messi to stay in the competition. In football, sometimes there are external factors beyond the technical aspect. The world champions receive support at every level," Hassan said after the match.

The referee of the match was Francois Letexier from France, who according to Hassan his team had objected to before the match.

The coach was more upset because the video assistant referee (VAR) did not feel the need to ask Letexier to review the foul that Mac Allister apparently committed.

"It seems there is pressure from the Argentine side regarding this result. We object to the selection of the referee because of the situation in France (Argentina defeated France in the 2022 World Cup final)."

"However, everyone has to suffer at some point, and we suffered. We didn't see any respect or fair play."

"The penalty was annulled (alleged violation against Mohamed Salah). It was not even checked by VAR. Our second goal was surprisingly, for whatever reason, annulled."

"I want to say it in beautiful words and say bad luck, but we have been treated unfairly and this is an injustice," he said.

Hassan was involved in a verbal confrontation with Letexier at the end of the match. He accused the referee of "hiding something".

"What I said to the referee was that it was unfair. I said maybe he had a scar or was hiding something."

"If someone is trying to hide something, they often fail to hide it," Hassan said.

Meanwhile, Egyptian striker Mostafa Zico said it was difficult to watch the match out of his team's grasp.

"Bad luck. The game was in our hands and slipped away in the last moments. Strange things happen on the field. We were treated unfairly by (the referee) today and everyone saw it."

"I'm not going to talk about this kind of thing. We were 2-0 up. After the 2-0 result, everything turned against us and hurt us."

"I don't even know why the second goal was annulled, I didn't see any reason for it. He also wanted to annul the third goal, but thank God, God didn't grant it," he said.

Zico further said Egypt did not consider the victory certain when they scored the second goal.

"No. We didn't expect the match to be over. We know very well that we are playing against the world champions. Even before the match started, we knew we were playing against a strong team, a team that is the favorite to win."

"But, I mean, if they win with their own efforts, it will make a big difference for us," he said.

Egypt's reserve goalkeeper Mohamed Alaa echoed Zico's comments on how the disallowed goal heavily affected the game.

"The referee's decision was clear in front of everyone. I won't talk about it. The referee's decision was clear. We had a goal that was disallowed and we (should) have got a penalty."

"Instead of getting a penalty, he even scored a goal through the opponent's counterattack. The objection was only directed at the referee, meaning it was about the referee's mistake."

"That's the objection, nothing more. Captain Salah went into the locker room, gathered all the players and spoke to them."

"He said that bad luck, everything is over. This is God's decree and what He wants has happened. Let's get up from this and what will come will be good, God willing," said Alaa.