Egypt seek FIFA action over refereeing in Argentina defeat

CAIRO: Egypt’s football federation said on Wednesday that it had lodged a complaint with FIFA seeking an investigation into the officiating team from the Pharaohs’ 3-2 defeat to Argentina in the World Cup last-16 match and asking for the officials to be removed from the tournament.

In a statement, the federation said its president Hany Aburida had filed the complaint over what it described as major errors by French referee Francois Letexier and the wider officiating crew. According to the federation, those decisions played a decisive role in Egypt’s elimination.

The complaint centred on several incidents from Tuesday’s match. Egypt said a goal by Mostafa Ziko, scored while his side were 1-0 ahead, was disallowed after a VAR review identified an earlier foul on Lisandro Martinez during the move. Ziko later scored again to put Egypt 2-0 in front and move them close to a first-ever place in the quarter-finals.

The federation also objected to the sequence leading to Argentina’s winning goal in stoppage time. After Cristian Romero and Lionel Messi had helped Argentina draw level, Enzo Fernandez scored the winner. Egypt argued that before that move, they should have been awarded a penalty for what they considered a pull by Alexis Mac Allister on Hamdy Fathy.

In its statement, the Egyptian federation said Aburida had asked FIFA to examine not only the referee but the full officiating team, including the video officials, alleging that there had been clear mistakes and that some footage which Egypt believes supported its case was not reviewed.

"Hany Aburida, 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
, he stated.

The statement further said Aburida had called for the referee and the entire crew to be excluded from the World Cup if the investigation established what it termed discriminatory treatment towards the Egyptian team.

"Aburida demanded the investigation of the entire team of referees, including the video technology referees, because of the blatant errors and insisting on not reviewing some of the footage that we believe are in favour of the Egyptian national team, and we see in it the Pharaohs' right to a correct goal and a penalty", he added.

The federation’s position echoed the immediate post-match comments of Egypt coach Hossam Hassan, who strongly criticised the officiating after the defeat.

Speaking to journalists, Hassan said "I do not want to put it nicely and talk about hard luck. We have been cheated unfairly today, we have suffered injustice".

"We haven't seen respect or fair play. There has not been respect or fair play", he added.

In remarks to BeIN, Hassan also suggested factors beyond the football itself had influenced the outcome. "Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champions in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running", he stated.