ATLANTA (Kashmir English): Egyptian players and coaches have been furious with the referees after controversial decisions in their match against Argentina in the pre-quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup.
Following Argentina’s dramatic victory over Egypt, Egyptian players, social media users and the team’s coach have slammed the referees for their controversial decisions.
Egyptian player Mostafa Ziko
After the match, Egyptian player Mostafa Ziko severely criticized the referee, saying, “Congratulations to Argentina for winning the World Cup; the tournament was already fixed, they didn’t need anything more for it.”
🚨🚨🚨 BREAKING – MOSTAFA ZIKO:
🗣 “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 being given to Argentina.”
pic.twitter.com/Um7MJkevpU— Salah Updates #WorldCup (@SalahUpdates) July 7, 2026
The Egyptian player added, “The referee was dishonest.”
On the other hand, Egypt’s head coach Hossam Hassan also accused the referees of bias. According to foreign media, Egypt’s head coach Hossam Hassan said, “Whatever the results, I will say what is in my heart. It was clearly a fixed match, and the whole world saw it.”
Egypt’s head coach Hossam Hassan added that if he wanted Argentina to win so badly, then why did he invite all the other teams to participate in the tournament?
Controversial decisions
VAR disallowed an Egyptian goal in the second half of the match against Argentina. The referee disallowed the goal based on an alleged foul that occurred about 100 yards away, which the Egyptian team strongly objected to.
In the final moments of the match, Egypt’s star footballer and captain, Mohamed Salah, and the Argentine player came face to face at one point, however, during this time, the Argentine player tripped Mohamed Salah and brought him down.
Mind you Salah was fouled in the build up to Argentina third goal and Egypt was supposed to be given a penalty instead.
VAR checked it and still went ahead to give the goal.
This is the worst World Cup ever. pic.twitter.com/i9mSPe8aJP https://t.co/UBECzAcUn9— Nuel (@LfcNuel) July 7, 2026
The referee did not call a foul for the Argentine player’s action, and the referee’s decision was heavily criticized by users on social media.
On another occasion, Egypt and Argentina players faced each other, but here too, the Argentine players knocked down the Egyptian player and went ahead. The referee called a foul on the Argentine players and did not give Egypt a penalty shot, causing outrage among the fans.
Egyptian team head coach Hossam Hassan strongly objected to some of the referee’s decisions during the match and recorded a protest, after which the referee warned him and issued a yellow card.
Later, Argentina scored 3 goals in the second half to defeat Egypt 2-3 and qualify for the quarterfinals.
