Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan suggested that the referee may have had “a scoreline in mind” after Egypt’s World Cup run ended.
Egypt were minutes away from one of the biggest wins in their history before late goals from Cristian Romero, Lionel Messi, and Enzo Fernández sent Argentina through to the quarter-finals.
“What I said to the referee was only that this is unjust,” Hossam Hassan said after the match. “I was saying maybe he had a scoreline in mind. Maybe he had something to hide,” he added.
Egypt were angered by a VAR decision that ruled out a Mostafa Zico goal for a foul earlier in the move. The national team also protested two late penalty appeals. One came moments before Argentina broke forward and scored the decisive goal.
Zico, who had scored Egypt’s second goal, went further after the match, saying the tournament appeared to be “being given to Argentina.”
Egypt had taken the lead through Yasser Ibrahim in the 15th minute before Zico doubled the advantage in the 67th, after Messi had seen an early penalty saved by Mostafa Shobeir.
However, Romero began Argentina’s comeback in the 79th minute, Messi equalised four minutes later, and Fernández completed the turnaround in the 92nd minute.
The defeat ended Egypt’s best World Cup campaign after they reached the knockout stages for the first time in their history.