The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) has asked Fifa to remove the officials in charge of their World Cup last-16 defeat by Argentina from the tournament, alleging “double standards” and “blatant errors” after a contentious VAR decision and a stoppage-time winner.
With Egypt leading 1-0 in the second half, the video assistant referee (VAR) ruled out a goal by Mostafa Zico after midfielder Marwan Attia was penalised for stepping on Lisandro Martinez’s foot at the start of the move. Egypt also thought Mohamed Salah was fouled in the Argentina penalty area seconds before the reigning champions broke for the stoppage-time winner in a 3-2 victory.
In a statement, the EFA said it had filed a complaint with Fifa demanding an investigation into French referee Francois Letexier and his team.
“Hany Abou Rida, president of the Egyptian football federation, filed a complaint with Fifa, demanding an investigation into the French referee Francois Letexier after the serious refereeing mistakes committed by the team of referees and double standards, which caused the Egypt team to lose the match and leave the World Cup,” the statement read.
The EFA has called for an investigation of the team of referees and video technology referees after what it said were “blatant errors and insisting on not reviewing some of the footage.” It “demanded the exclusion of the referee and the entire crew from the World Cup after investigating these mistakes” and alleged “the crime of discrimination against the Egyptian national team.”
After the game, manager Hossam Hassan said Egypt had been “treated unfairly” and had “suffered injustice.”
“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running,” he said.
Zico, whose goal was disallowed, said: “The referee was really unfair. The injustice was clear. There’s been an unfairness right from the start of the match. It is clear that this tournament has been fixed.”
Protests against referees and their decisions rarely get anywhere at the World Cup. Fifa typically dismisses such complaints with short statements and no detailed explanations.
As one BBC Sport analyst noted: “Perhaps the referees’ committee might quietly provide the officials with their plane tickets home, but complaints are given short shrift.”
At the 2022 World Cup, France lodged a protest following a 1-0 defeat to Tunisia in their final group game after a VAR review appeared to go against protocol. Fifa dismissed the appeal with a very short statement and no explanation of why.
The issue any football association has in raising complaints about referees is that decisions are almost always subjective. By human nature, officials do make mistakes, but that does not mean there is anything suspect. These complaints, raised in the heat of the emotion of defeat, tend to fade away.
Egypt have never reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup. The defeat ends their campaign in the last 16, while Argentina advance to face Switzerland in Kansas City on Saturday.
For Egypt, the focus will now shift to whether their complaint leads to any action or whether it simply adds to the long list of appeals that Fifa has quietly dismissed.
