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Refereeing expert on Egypt's exit: They want to change football

Published 20 hours agoVia Yallakora

Iturralde González, the Spanish arbitration expert, criticized the many interventions of video technology during the matches of the 2026 World Cup, citing the case of the cancellation of Egypt's goal in Argentina's net.

Argentina's national team defeated its counterpart Egypt by three goals to two in the match that brought the two teams together yesterday evening, Tuesday, at Atlanta Stadium in the United States of America, for the round of 16 competitions in the 2026 World Cup.

The match witnessed many controversial refereeing incidents, most notably the cancellation of Egypt's goal scored by Mustafa Abdel Raouf Zico into Argentina's net, which scored the third goal in a similar manner.

Iturralde González said in statements reported by the Spanish radio station Cadena SER: "Egypt's canceled goal? For me, this is new evidence of the many interventions of video technology in matches."

He added: "This decision could have been made by the referee to award the foul during live play, but the intervention of the video assistant referee does not surprise me.. I have mentioned that before," before hinting at a plan to change the rules of football.

He continued: "In this edition of the World Cup, they wanted to make the video assistant referee very intrusive in decisions, and here we are witnessing that; this is the type of football they want us to reach," while Kiko Narváez, the former Spanish player, responded angrily, saying: "This is not football."

Iturralde González claimed that there was no need to cancel Argentina's third goal, explaining that there was no stepping on Mohamed Salah's foot, and affirmed the correctness of the decision by French referee François Letexier not to award a penalty to Egypt after pulling the shirt of player Hamdi Fathi inside the penalty area.

The United States of America is hosting the 2026 World Cup, along with Mexico and Canada, with the participation of 48 teams for the first time in the history of the tournament, from June 11 to July 19.