Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan has accused match officials of “cheating” his team after their dramatic 3-2 defeat to Argentina national football team in the FIFA World Cup Round of 16.
Egypt surrendered a 2-0 lead as Argentina scored three goals in the final stages to book their place in the quarter-finals.
Speaking after the match, Hassan claimed his side had been treated unfairly, pointing to several controversial refereeing decisions during the game.
“We have been cheated unfairly today. We have suffered injustice,” Hassan said.
The Egypt coach questioned the decision to disallow one of his team’s goals following a VAR review and also claimed his side should have been awarded a penalty in the build-up to Argentina’s winning goal after what he described as a shirt pull on an Egyptian player.
Hassan said there had been “no respect or fair play” and criticised the officiating, alleging that key incidents were either incorrectly judged or not reviewed by VAR.
He also suggested that officials may have been influenced by a desire to keep Argentina captain Lionel Messi in the tournament.
“Perhaps they wanted the world champions to stay in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running,” Hassan told BeIN Sports.
Hassan also criticised the scheduling of the match, saying a noon kick-off just four days after Egypt’s previous fixture was unfair to players.
Argentina completed a remarkable comeback after trailing by two goals, with Messi scoring the equaliser before Enzo Fernández netted the winner to send the defending champions into the last eight. (Newswire)