Egypt have asked FIFA to investigate the refereeing team that handled their dramatic 3-2 defeat to Argentina in the World Cup round of 16.
The Egyptian Football Association said it has filed an official complaint against French referee Francois Letexier and his team. The federation believes several wrong decisions changed the result and led to Egypt’s exit from the tournament.
In a statement, federation president Hany Aburida called for a full investigation into the referee, assistant referees and VAR officials.
He claimed serious mistakes and different standards in key moments of the match cost Egypt a place in the quarterfinals.
The biggest talking point came when Mostafa Ziko had a goal ruled out after a VAR review. Egypt were leading 1 0 at the time. Officials judged that Lisandro Martinez had been fouled earlier in the move.
Ziko later scored again to give Egypt a 2 0 lead. But Argentina fought back through Cristian Romero and Lionel Messi before Enzo Fernandez scored the winner.
Egypt also believe they should have received a penalty before Argentina’s winning goal. The federation said Alexis Mac Allister pulled Hamdy Fathy inside the box. It claimed the referee did not review the incident.
The federation said FIFA should investigate the whole officiating team and remove them from the rest of the World Cup if the mistakes are confirmed.
Egypt coach Hossam Hassan also criticized the officials after the match.
“I do not want to put it nicely and talk about hard luck. We have been cheated unfairly today, we have suffered injustice,” Hassan told reporters.
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play. There has not been respect or fair play.”
Speaking to BeIN Sports, Hassan added: “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.”
