Controversy never leaves World Cup: two days after the Folarin Balogun case and Trump's call to Infantino, now mostly forgotten because United States ended up getting thrashed by Belgium anyway and eliminated from the competition, the match between Argentina and Egypt is the new hot topic.
Everyone praises Argentina's resilience to turn an unfavourable situation around in 15 minutes, but also about referee decisions, particularly two VAR interventions: the decision to disallow Egypt's second goal due to an earlier foul by an Egyptian player, and the decision not to disallow Argentina's third goal, which was preceded by a what appeared to be a similar foul by an Argentinian player.
Experts are now debating whether the calls were right, with most agreeing that Egypt's goal was rightfully disallowed because the foul was clear, and Julián's foul on Salah is much more debatable. But the timing and consequences of the refereeing decisions, which clearly benefitted Argentina, is now a source of debate with some questioning again the legitimacy of the competition, even if the referee decisions seem to be right.
Egypt coach Hossam Hassan stated clearly that "we have been cheated unfairly today; we have suffered injustice", and suggested that FIFA "perhaps wanted to keep the world champions in the competition, perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running", adding that he will not continue to watch matches as a way of speaking up.
Political interests: from Palestine to Milei
Some opinions go beyond the sporting, with Al Jazeera asking a professor of Afro-Eurasian sport in a Business School in Shanghai, Simon Chadwick, who pointed to possible political interests from the White House that have influenced FIFA, as it seemingly happened with Balogun; mainly, Hassan's open support to Palestine in the press conference before the match, and Trump's closeness with Argentina's president Javier Milei, could prompt officials to have "built-in biases when making decisions".
Do you think the match between Argentina and Egypt was fair?
