Read 3 minutesUpdated: July 8, 2026 06:49 AM IST
Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan said his team had been “injusted” in Atlanta, accusing the referee and FIFA of bias in favor of defending champions Argentina after the African nation lost 3-2 to the defending champions in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Round of 16. The Egyptian bench was enraged when Argentina’s Enzo Fernandez scored the winner in stoppage time.
The ensuing brawl resulted in a red card being shown by the referee to a member of Hassan’s staff. “We deserved this win, but we are leaving with pride because there was no fair play, no respect,” he told reporters after the match.
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“There was no fair play in this match and I am not happy about it. We have been treated unfairly. FIFA is shouting ‘fair play’, but we don’t see it on the field.. If there were no mistakes, the result would have been different.”
The referee was seen having a long conversation with Hasan after stoppage time after Fernandes’ goal. “What I said to the referee was ‘It’s unfair. I said maybe he has an injury or something to hide. If someone tries to hide something, they often fail to hide it.’ Hasan said about the incident.
“Anyway, I’m going home and won’t watch any more games in the tournament,” he said. “What happened to us was not fair. We should have had a penalty, a goal was disallowed and I don’t know why it was disallowed.”
Hassan was referring to Egypt’s appeal for a penalty kick when Julian Alvarez tripped captain Mohamed Salah in the Argentina box. A foul on Argentina center back Lisandro Martinez at the start of Egypt’s counter-attack denied a second goal on the hour mark. Mostafa Zico was the scorer and scored Egypt’s second goal of the day a few minutes later. This means that Egypt lead Argentina 2-0 with just over 20 minutes remaining.
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However, Argentina then produced a fantastic comeback as Christian Romero headed in Lionel Messi’s cross to halve Egypt’s lead. Messi equalized himself before Fernandes scored the winner in the dying minutes of the match.