Watch: 10 Decisions By Referee That Forced Egypt To Say World Cup Is 'Fixed' After Loss To Lionel Messi's Argentina

Egypt is fuming, while the football world is divided. What turned out to be a dramatic 3-2 comeback win by Argentina against Egypt in a FIFA World Cup Round of 16 match was also a controversial one too. Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan has announced a personal boycott of the remainder of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, citing a lack of "fair play" and "justice" in the tournament. Following his side's loss in the Round of 16 FIFA World Cup clash against defending champions Argentina, Egypt's Mostafa Ziko, whose first goal was disallowed by VAR, alleged that the officiating was not fair throughout the match and that his team faced "clear and obvious injustice". He also added that the "tournament is fixed".

Egypt appeared to be on the verge of a historic upset after Yasser Ibrahim scored a header in the 15th minute, and goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir later saved a penalty from Lionel Messi. The Pharaohs extended their lead in the 67th minute through a Mostafa Ziko goal following a swift counterattack involving Mohamed Salah and Haissem Hassan, leaving Argentina seemingly destined for an early exit.

The match shifted in the final minutes as Argentina mounted a late comeback. Cristian Romero scored a header in the 79th minute, followed by an equaliser from Messi four minutes later, before Enzo Fernandez secured a stoppage-time winner to seal the 3-2 victory for Argentina.

Here's a video compilation of all the decisions that Egypt think went against them. It included no yellow cards for Argentina's Nicolas Tagliafico (twice), Rodrigo De Paul, Cristian Romero (twice), Julian Alvarez and Nicolas Gonzalez; no free-kick awarded for fouls on Egypt's Mohamed Salah; and questionable foul decisions against him. Then, there was Mostafa Ziko's goal that was disallowed. Most importantly, no foul was called on Salah in the buildup to Enzo Fernandez's winning goal, with the resulting move culminating in Argentina's final goal.

A video compilation of the controversial referee decisions from the Argentina vrs Egypt encounter pic.twitter.com/kyLeKB2ar6

— 🇬🇭🇳🇬🇪🇹🇰🇪 viruS (@Ghanaviruz) July 7, 2026

Following the final whistle, a visibly frustrated Hassan told reporters that his team had been treated unfairly. "Argentina's victory is entirely undeserved. I promise you, once I return today, I will not watch football in this World Cup at all, because there is no justice in it. My personal protest is that I will not watch this World Cup again. When I get back home and back to our country, I am not watching it," Hassan told reporters after the match, as quoted by ESPN UK.

"We had the right to win, and I don't want to say 'hard luck' to us - no. We left with honour, honour on our part. But the final result, aside from being highly influenced, is a far cry from the 'fair play' that FIFA talks about and far from respect. There was neither respect nor fair play today," he added.

Hassan suggested that external influences had impacted the result. "We looked better than the reigning champions -- better in everything -- but the result was influenced by internal factors on the pitch and external factors off it," Hassan said, as quoted by ESPN.

"Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champions in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running. In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champions received support at every level," he said.

"I want to put it in beautiful words and say hard luck, but we have been treated unfairly, and it has been an injustice," he added.

With ANI inputs

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Topics mentioned in this article

Argentina Egypt 2026 FIFA World Cup Messi Salah Mostafa Ziko Football