France
MoroccoThu 9 Jul, 23:00Quarter-finals FranceMorocco
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The mask of the International Federation of Football Association "FIFA", which carries several slogans, has fallen, after all of them were absent from the Egypt match against Argentina, which was held within the competitions of the 2026 World Cup, held in the United States of America, Mexico and Canada.
The Egyptian national team was subjected to clear injustice against Argentina, in the match that took place between the two teams, within the framework of the round of 16 competitions of the World Cup, and ended with the whistle of the French referee François Letexier, with which he granted Lionel Messi's teammates a qualification card for the next stage.
The International Federation of Football Association "FIFA" has several slogans that express its efforts to elevate the game in the world, most notably fair play, respect, no to racism, but it abandoned all those principles during the current edition of the World Cup, and specifically in the Egypt match against Argentina, which was confirmed by coach Hossam Hassan, the technical director of the Pharaohs, after the aforementioned confrontation.
Argentine fears appeared before the Egyptian ones, since "FIFA" revealed the refereeing crew scheduled to manage the anticipated confrontation between the two national teams, due to the presence of the French referee François Letexier, at the head of the appointed names.
On the other hand, the technical staff of the Egyptian national team did not express any fears, as coach Hossam Hassan took the initiative to express the extent of his respect for the appointed refereeing crew, in statements he made during the press conference that preceded the match against Argentina.
Hossam Hassan said, during the press conference, before the match against Argentina: "The Argentine press has the right to object to the refereeing decisions, but we respect all referees".
The national team coach added: "In our match against Belgium, there were two cases that we believe deserved two penalties, yet we did not object, because we have all respect and appreciation for the refereeing, just as we respect the opponent's right to express his opinion".
Hossam Hassan did not realize that he would face the worst refereeing decisions, which dashed the Egyptian national team's dream out of the World Cup finals, from the round of 16 stage of the tournament.
The Argentine fears were realized, but they came in favor of Lionel Messi's teammates, as the French referee François Letexier's double standards appeared during the confrontation that will not be erased from everyone's memory, causing the national team to bid farewell to the World Cup finals with a whistle that did not know the meaning of justice.
The Egyptian national team took the lead over its Argentine counterpart, and the Pharaohs were given the opportunity to extend the lead, which was actually achieved, but François's decision temporarily deprived the Pharaohs of that feeling.
Marwan Attia, the Egyptian national team midfielder, managed to dispossess the ball from the Argentine player, sending a long ball that reached Haitham Hassan, who executed a dribble before passing to Mohamed Salah.
Mohamed Salah did not hesitate to send a through ball to Mustafa Zico, who succeeded in beating the net of Emiliano Martínez, the Argentine goalkeeper, so the Egyptian national team striker celebrated by taking off his shirt, before realizing what awaited him.
The match referee returned to the video technology to review the ball's journey before it settled into the Argentine net, and the Frenchman decided there was a foul on Marwan Attia, by which he deprived the Pharaohs of a goal to extend the lead.
The matter did not end there, given the presence of a foul that might have been deserved in favor of the Argentine national team, but the scene was repeated again with different shirts moments before the final whistle, except that the French referee exploded in anger at the Pharaohs, revealing his colored cards.
While the score indicated a positive tie with two goals for each team, Mohamed Salah, the captain of the Egyptian national team, fell in the Argentine penalty area, after a challenge from the latter's defender.
Mohamed Salah demanded a foul, coinciding with the shouts of the technical staff and those on the substitutes' bench, but the match referee did not stop the game, so the ball continued to approach Mostafa Shobeir's goal until it settled inside it.
Demands from the Egyptian national team and its technical staff appeared for the French referee to return to review the scene on video technology, given the certainty of a foul that warranted awarding a penalty to the Pharaohs and canceling the Argentine goal that came via a header from Enzo Fernández.
The Frenchman did not care, launching a series of colored cards in the faces of the Egyptian national team players, as both Hamdi Fathi and Mostafa Shobeir received a yellow card, while Saafan Al-Saghir, the goalkeepers' coach, received a shocking red card.
Hossam Hassan himself exploded in anger due to what he saw as refereeing bias, forcing him to use the signal recently introduced by "FIFA" to express exposure to racism, but the Frenchman proceeded to give the historical striker of Egyptian football a yellow card.
The previous scene was not the only thing that happened during the match, but it was the most prominent, and returning to several scenes, Imam Ashour was subjected to a punch in the face without the ball, from Molina in the 44th minute of the match.
Another controversial scene was when Hamdi Fathi fell as a result of a challenge with the Argentine player in the 90+1 minute of the match, without the ball, and the match referee did not bother to review the scene.
Hossam Hassan, the coach who does not speak in vain, before the match against Argentina in the World Cup, affirmed his respect for the decisions of the International Federation of Football Association "FIFA", reviewing its slogan related to respect and justice.
However, the injustice inflicted upon him made him speak as he had never spoken before, attacking the International Federation of Football Association and the match referee, in statements he made after the match.
Hossam Hassan said, in televised statements: "Perhaps what happened has something to do with marketing, paving the way for the world champion and the continued presence of Lionel Messi in the tournament, we gave everything we had and I thank the team and my message to the Egyptian, Arab and African people, it is possible to exert great effort but there are other difficult factors".
He continued: "I wished we could make you happier than that and I do not like losing, especially when it is unjust, there are other things happening outside the technicalities of football and outside the pitch, we faced the world champion who received support from all sides".
Hossam Hassan: We faced the world champion who received support from everyone
Hossam Hassan was not the only one who saw that the Egyptian national team had been subjected to injustice, as many international voices emerged that denounced what happened to the Pharaohs against Argentina in the 2026 World Cup.
Ian Wright, former England and Arsenal star, said in statements reported by the British Mirror newspaper: "This is what is happening now with VAR technology, they go back to the previous scene".
He continued: "If you are going to go back to a scene in favor of Argentina on the edge of the penalty area to cancel Egypt's goal, you must also go back to Mohamed Salah's scene to cancel Argentina's goal".
For his part, Roy Keane, former Manchester United star, confirmed that the Argentine national team benefited from the refereeing decisions in that match, which qualified the Tango to the quarterfinals of the 2026 World Cup.
Roy Keane stated: "The only thing I will say about Argentina's third goal is: when Salah changed direction inside the penalty area, why did his legs collapse?".
Alan Shearer, one of the most prominent legends of English football, described what happened as "nonsense".
Alan Shearer wrote on his social media account "X": "Either both incidents are fouls or neither of them, but they told us they would not reassess the referee's decisions, nonsense".
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