Egypt coach Hossam Hassan launched a furious attack on referees and VAR officials after his side was eliminated from the FIFA World Cup 2026 in one of the tournament's most dramatic turnarounds, with Argentina overcoming a two-goal deficit in the final 11 minutes to advance to the quarter-finals.
The Pharaohs had been on the verge of producing one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history, leading the reigning champions 2-0 with just over ten minutes remaining in their Round of 16 clash, before conceding three times to bow out of the competition.
Hassan Accuses Officials of Cheating Egypt
At an explosive post-match press conference, Hassan made no attempt to soften his words. "I do not want to put it nicely and talk about hard luck. We have been cheated unfairly today, we have suffered injustice," he told reporters.
The Egyptian coach pointed to a series of officiating decisions he believes cost his side a historic victory. When Egypt were leading 1-0, a second goal by Mostafa Zico was ruled out after VAR detected a foul on Lisandro Martinez earlier in the passage of play. Zico then doubled Egypt's lead in the 67th minute, putting the Pharaohs on the brink of a first-ever place in the World Cup quarter-finals.
Hassan was particularly aggrieved by an incident in the build-up to Argentina's winning goal, scored by Enzo Fernández. Egypt believed a pull by Alexis Mac Allister on Hamdy Fathy should have resulted in a penalty, but no foul was given and VAR did not intervene.
"A penalty was ruled out, was not even checked by VAR. A second goal was remarkably disallowed. There has not even been a VAR check when we have all seen the image of the [shirt] being pulled back," Hassan said.
"We haven't seen respect or fair play. There has not been respect or fair play," he added.
Argentina's Comeback and the Messi Factor
Argentina's fightback began when Cristian Romero pulled one back in the 79th minute, before Lionel Messi equalised to bring the score to 2-2. It was Messi's eighth goal of the tournament, extending his lead at the top of the Golden Boot standings.
Messi had earlier been denied from the penalty spot by goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir, after Argentina were awarded a spot-kick for a trip on Nicolás Tagliafico following Yasser Ibrahim's header that had given Egypt the lead. The miss added to a growing record of World Cup penalty misses for Messi, who has now failed to convert four of his eight non-shootout spot-kicks at the tournament, including two at this edition.
Hassan went further in his accusations, suggesting officials had been influenced by a desire to keep high-profile names in the competition. "Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champions in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running," he said. "In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champions received support at every level."
Scheduling Criticism and a Personal Boycott
Hassan also turned his fire on tournament schedulers, objecting to the match being played at a midday local kick-off time, just four days after both teams had competed in their previous round.
"Whoever schedules those matches has never played football. You never schedule a game for 12pm. At noon you go for a walk or to eat brunch, you do not go to play football," he said, questioning when players were expected to eat before such an early start.
In a final act of protest, Hassan announced he would not watch any further matches at the 2026 World Cup. "I am not going to continue following the matches of this World Cup, watching the matches of this World Cup," he said. "This is my own way of speaking up."
Argentina advance to the last eight, while Egypt depart having come agonisingly close to writing their name into World Cup folklore.
