Drogba: Egypt's national team is the winner and not Argentina

The Ivorian Didier Drogba, the legend of African football, directed sharp criticisms at the refereeing decisions in the Egypt-Argentina match, considering that video technology played an influential role in qualifying the "Tango" national team to the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Cup at the expense of the Pharaohs.

Drogba said that Argentina always finds the easiest ways to qualify in the World Cup, adding that what happened in the Egypt match clearly proved that, in reference to the decision to cancel the second goal scored by Mustafa Zico after a video technology review.

The Ivory Coast legend added in televised statements: "Thank God that video technology did not exist in our era. Look at the wonderful run by Haitham Hassan and Mohamed Salah to create the goal, where was the referee then? Was the whistle missing from his hand? He did not intervene until after the ball settled in the net."

Drogba pointed to the reaction of the President of the International Federation of Football, Gianni Infantino, during the match, saying: "You can see Infantino's reaction, and I think he wished he could cancel Zico's second goal."

Drogba mocked some fans' comments, saying: "There are those who say that Argentina is playing in the Africa Cup of Nations because it faced mostly African teams since the beginning of the tournament, but I see that Egypt is the one that won the match tonight."

He concluded his statements by saying: "Sometimes I blame the African teams for not maintaining their lead until the final whistle, but how can they do that if the referee and video technology are always against them? We Africans deserve better than that."

The Egyptian national team had exited the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup competitions after a dramatic loss to Argentina with a score of 3-2, in the match held at Atlanta Stadium.

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