Egypt coach Hossam Hassan called the refereeing “unfair” — and on Argentina’s side — after his team lost 3-2 in heartbreaking fashion on Tuesday in the Round of 16 of the World Cup.
Despite Egypt going up 2-0 in the 59th minute, a controversially disallowed goal and then a controversial score for Argentina saw the South American team advance to the quarterfinals.
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play,” Hassan told reporters after the match. “A penalty was ruled out, and a second [incident] that should have been checked for a penalty for us was not even checked by the VAR. A second goal was remarkably, for whatever reason, disallowed.”
“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.
What would have been Egypt’s second goal was disallowed due to a foul in the build-up, which happened over 20 seconds before the score and on the other side of the field.
Egyptian players and coaches then thought star Mohamed Salah was fouled in Argentina’s box in the lead-up to Enzo Fernández’s game-winning goal in the 92nd minute.
Instead, four yellow cards and one red were handed out to Egypt’s players and staff who were protesting.
“There seems to have been pressure on the Argentinian side on the referee that has brought about this outcome,” Hassan said.
“Life is unfair. The world is unfair. OK, but why isn’t there any fairness in sports? I’m not convinced by this outcome and by the way things unfolded in this match.”
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Players continued to complain after the game, with Mostafa Ziko saying “the cup is directed toward Argentina” in an interview on TSN.
“It was not fair from the referee,” Ziko said. “It was really not fair, that was very clear. He wasted all of our efforts with his decisions. We were leading 2-0, and we couldn’t do anything — it’s all up to God.”
The Egyptian coach didn’t end his complaints with the officiating, though, also questioning the noon start time.
“There are a lot of things to be questioned on and off the pitch, negative aspects all around,” Hassan said.
