Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.
Hossam Hassan believes Egypt’s dramatic 3-2 defeat to Argentina at the World Cup was “clearly a rigged match”, adding his team were “cheated unfairly” by the officials.
Egypt, playing in their first last 16 tie at the World Cup, looked set to pull off a seismic shock against the defending champions after going two goals in front at Atlanta Stadium.
Yasser Ibrahim’s header put Egypt into a 15th-minute lead before Mostafa Zico, who had an earlier goal ruled out by VAR, doubled their advantage in the 67th minute.
However, two goals in four minutes from Cristian Romero and Lionel Messi turned the game on its head, before Enzo Fernandez headed in the winner in stoppage time.
Egypt were the only African team ever to lead by 2+ goals in a World Cup match against the competition’s reigning champions, but were unable to hold out for the victory.
But Hassan launched a scathing review of the officials. Zico’s disallowed goal came after Marwan Attia had fouled Lisandro Martinez in the build-up, while late appeals for a penalty after a tug on Hamdy Fathy by Alexis Mac Allister were waved away before Fernandez’s late intervention.
“I do not want to put it nicely and talk about hard luck. We have been cheated unfairly today, we have suffered injustice,” Hassan said in an explosive press conference.
“I will say what’s on my mind regardless of the consequence. This was clearly a rigged match, and the whole world saw it.
“And I want to say one more thing, if they want Argentina to win so badly, why call everyone to come and participate?”
Today our feet touched the path of glory, and tomorrow we shall walk it #egyptnt#FIFAWORLDCUP pic.twitter.com/inoxyZu7hd
— Egypt National Team (@EgyptNT_EN) July 7, 2026
Hassan continued his outburst throughout much of his press conference, with most of his complaints aimed at there being no intervention for the incident involving Fathy.
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play. There has not been respect or fair play,” Hassan added.
“A penalty was ruled out, was not even checked by VAR. A second goal was remarkably disallowed.
“There has not even been a VAR check when we have all seen the image of the [shirt] being pulled back.”
Egypt’s early lead had looked in jeopardy when Haissem Hassan brought down Nicolas Tagliafico in the penalty area, but Mostafa Shobeir brilliantly saved Messi’s spot-kick.
“Even if the goals came from mistakes, the biggest mistake is not getting what you’re entitled to from those responsible for making the decisions,” Hassan fumed.
“I’m the type of person who hates losing. And when it’s a defeat that feels unjust like today’s, I can only tell the fans not to be upset. We wanted so much to give them more joy.”
Hassan also said that because of the injustice that he felt, he would not be watching any more matches for the rest of the World Cup.
“I am not going to continue following the matches of this World Cup, watching the matches of this World Cup,” he said. “This is my own way of speaking up.”
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