Fox Sport: Egypt was wronged against Argentina

 

The American "FOX Sports" network highlighted the refereeing controversy witnessed in the match between the Egyptian and Argentine national teams in the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup.

The American network considered that the decision to cancel a goal by Mustafa Zico using video assistant referee (VAR) technology led to objections from a number of refereeing experts who believed that the decision deprived the Pharaohs of a deserved goal.

 

Zico had scored a goal that would have given the Egyptian national team a 2-0 lead, before the match referee, after reviewing the video technology, decided to award a foul in favor of Argentina and cancel the goal.

Fox Sports: Egypt was wronged against Argentina

Rob Green, FOX Sports analyst, believed that the video technology exceeded its authority in this case, saying: "This is not within the VAR's remit to review, as the incident occurred at the other end of the pitch and with a significant time gap from the goal."

For his part, former international referee Mark Clattenburg rejected the decision entirely, considering that the incident did not warrant a foul in the first place, nor did it require the intervention of video technology.

Clattenburg said that such contacts had been allowed throughout the tournament, adding that the long time gap and the number of passes between the foul and the goal make the intervention unjustified, confirming that "the VAR was looking for a reason to cancel Egypt's goal more than correcting a clear error."