Hossam Hassan claims Egypt suffered ‘injustice’ after dramatic World Cup defeat to Argentina

• Egypt coach Hossam Hassan accused match officials of influencing his side’s World Cup exit against Argentina.
• Hassan questioned key VAR decisions and suggested Lionel Messi and the defending champions received favourable treatment.
• Argentina recovered from two goals down to secure a dramatic 3-2 victory and reach the quarterfinals.

Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan accused match officials of treating his side unfairly after their dramatic 3-2 defeat to Argentina in the World Cup round of 16, claiming the result was influenced by decisions both on and off the pitch.

The reigning world champions recovered from a two-goal deficit to book their place in the quarterfinals, with Lionel Messi scoring once and creating another before Enzo Fernández struck a stoppage-time winner.

However, Egypt’s players and coaching staff were left frustrated after seeing a second-half goal ruled out following a VAR review, while appeals for a foul by Alexis Mac Allister in the build-up to Argentina’s winning goal were not reviewed.

Hassan said his side deserved more from the contest.

“We looked better than the reigning champions, better in everything, but the result was influenced by internal factors on the pitch and external factors off it,” Hassan said.

“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running.”

“In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champion received support at every level.”

The match was officiated by French referee François Letexier, whose appointment Hassan said Egypt had questioned before kickoff.

The Egypt coach also criticised the use of VAR after his team’s appeals were dismissed.

“There seem to be pressures from the Argentina side on this outcome,” he said.

“We were objecting to the selection of the referee because of the French situation, but everybody has to suffer at some point, and we suffered.”

“We haven’t seen respect or fair play.”

“A penalty was ruled out. It was not even checked by the VAR, and our second goal was remarkably, for whatever reason, disallowed.”

“I want to put it in beautiful words and say, ‘Hard luck,’ but we have been treated unfairly and it has been an injustice.”

Hassan confirmed he confronted Letexier after the final whistle.

“What I told the referee was, ‘This is unfair,’” he said.

“I said maybe he is carrying a scar or has something to hide.”

“If somebody is trying to hide something, they often fail to hide it.”

Forward Mostafa Zico admitted it was painful to see Egypt surrender their advantage after leading 2-0.

“Hard luck. The match was in our hands and slipped away at the last moment,” he said.

“Strange things happened on the pitch.”

“We were hard done by today, and everyone saw that.”

“I don’t even know why the second goal was disallowed. I don’t see any reason for it.”

Zico insisted Egypt never believed the contest was over despite establishing a two-goal lead.

“No, we didn’t,” he said.

“It wasn’t in our calculations that the match was already over.”

“We know very well that we are playing against the world champions.”

“But if they had won by their own effort, it would have made a big difference to us.”

Goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir praised his teammates despite the disappointment.

“Of course, some mistakes happened from all of us in the last 10 minutes,” he said.

“But in the end, we are also playing against the world champions.”

Reserve goalkeeper Mohamed Alaa also criticised the officiating, claiming key moments changed the course of the match.

“The refereeing was obvious in front of everyone,” he said.

“We had a goal disallowed, and we had a penalty.”

“The penalty was turned against us into a counterattack goal.”

Alaa added that captain Mohamed Salah attempted to lift the squad following the final whistle.

“Captain Salah entered the locker room, gathered all the players and spoke with them,” he said.

“He said, ‘Hard luck, it’s over. It’s God’s decree and what he willed happened regarding what took place. Let’s build on this, and what’s coming will be good, God willing.’”