Alan Shearer, the English football legend, returned to criticize the refereeing errors witnessed in the Egypt national team match against Argentina in the 2026 World Cup tournament.
The Argentina national team defeated its Egyptian counterpart by three goals to two in the match that brought the two teams together last Tuesday evening at Atlanta Stadium for the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup tournament.
Difference in standards
Alan Shearer said in statements reported by the British newspaper Mirror: "I think the reason many will feel angry is that, just as I do not see Salah's incident inside the penalty area as deserving a penalty, nor do I see shirt-pulling inside the area as deserving a penalty, the same logic must be applied to the free kick that was awarded and led to the cancellation of Egypt's goal."
The former Newcastle striker added: "If you are going to award that play as a foul, there is a strong argument that one of the other two incidents should also have been awarded... And if you consider that incident a foul, you are in fact going back 110 yards to say: Sorry, there was a foul, and therefore we will cancel one of the most beautiful goals of the tournament."
Favoring the big teams
He continued: "I think what happened is absolute and complete nonsense, and no wonder all these theories saying the matter raises suspicions are spreading."
He added: "You have the top four teams in the world ranking, which are England, France, Spain, and Argentina, and if they top their groups, it is guaranteed they will not face each other before the semi-finals, then you have interventions from presidents and officials making calls, and then you see what happened in that match because of Argentina."
He went on: "Then you say to yourself... no wonder, you cannot blame people for thinking conspiracy theories, can you?"
Shameful decisions
Regarding the existence of a foul in favor of Lisandro Martínez before Egypt's goal, Shearer said: "No, the referee did not award it as a foul in the first place, and it was not in any way deserving of being called a clear and obvious foul."
He continued: "The matter was not a glaring error to the extent that we decide to go back 110 yards and cancel the goal... They are treating the incident as if it is an indisputable clear foul."
Alan Shearer concluded his statements by saying: "Referees in previous matches were not awarding such fouls, and at the beginning of the tournament, Kylian Mbappé was fouled, and it was a clear penalty, and the referee went to the review screen and then said: No, I will stick to my decision and will not award it, and now compare that to what happened in the Egypt match... It is shameful by all standards."
Alan Shearer had criticized the refereeing errors witnessed in the Egypt match against Argentina via his account on the social media site Twitter, where he described what happened as "nonsense."
