Egypt’s World Cup campaign ended in devastating fashion as Argentina completed a stunning 3-2 comeback victory in Atlanta Stadium to send the Pharaohs home furious.
With 12 minutes of normal time remaining, Egypt led the reigning world champions 2-0 and were within touching distance of a first-ever World Cup quarter-final.
Cristian Romero reduced the deficit in the 79th minute before captain Lionel Messi equalised four minutes later to level the scores at 2-2.
Enzo Fernandez then completed a remarkable Argentina turnaround with a header in the second minute of stoppage time to send Argentina’s fans wild with delight.
In an explosive post-match interview, Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan claimed his side had been “treated unfairly” and had “suffered injustice” during the contest.
“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition,” said Hassan. “Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running.”
Hassan went further, adding: “The world champion received support at every level. There seem to be pressures from the Argentina side on this outcome.”
Egypt were furious that a second goal from Mostafa Zico was disallowed by VAR after midfielder Marwan Attia was penalised for slightly stepping on Lisandro Martinez at the start of the attacking move.
The Pharaohs were also adamant that Mohamed Salah was fouled in Argentina’s penalty area just seconds before Fernandez broke forward to score the decisive winner.
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play,” said Hassan. “A penalty for us was ruled out, it was not even checked by VAR and our second goal was, for whatever reason, disallowed.”
Egypt forward Zico was equally scathing, saying: “The referee was really unfair. The injustice was clear. There’s been an unfairness right from the start of the match.”
Hassan also questioned the broader credibility of proceedings, stating: “There have been a lot of things to be questioned on and off the pitch. Negative aspects all around.”
Adding to the chaos, a member of Egypt’s backroom staff was shown a red card from the bench, while Hassan himself was booked for protesting after Argentina’s winner.
Hassan crossed his arms in front of him while remonstrating, a gesture adopted by Fifa as the symbol used to alert referees to racist incidents, though the Egypt boss did not refer to his gesture after the match.
BBC Sport football issues correspondent Dale Johnson noted that the VAR decision to disallow Zico’s goal appeared inconsistent with how refereeing has been applied throughout this tournament.
Johnson pointed out that this World Cup has seen 22.6 fouls per game compared with 25 in 2022 and 27 in 2018, reflecting Fifa’s directive to referees to allow more physical contact to increase tempo.
Goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir had produced a magnificent save to deny Messi’s penalty earlier in the match, giving Egypt genuine hope of causing one of the great World Cup upsets.
Egypt had already made history at this tournament by beating New Zealand on 22 June in Vancouver, recording their first-ever World Cup victory after three appearances on the global stage without a single win.
Salah departs having scored just one goal in the tournament and will turn 38 by the time the 2030 World Cup takes place, leaving his international future uncertain.
Egypt’s exit means Morocco are now the last African nation remaining in the competition, with the Atlas Lions facing France in the quarter-finals at Boston Stadium on Thursday.
