By Samuel Akpan
The Egyptian Football Federation has urged FIFA to investigate and expel the refereeing officials who oversaw their controversial 3-2 elimination by Argentina in the World Cup Round-of-16, accusing them of “serious errors and double standards.”
Federation President Hany Aburida filed the complaint with FIFA on Wednesday, demanding an investigation into French referee Francois Letexier.
“Hany Aburida, President of the Egyptian Football Federation, filed a complaint with FIFA, demanding an investigation into the French referee Francois Letexier… after the serious refereeing mistakes committed by the team of referees and double standards, which caused the Egypt team to lose the match and leave the World Cup,” said a statement from the federation.
The federation’s statement called for a comprehensive review of the entire match official team, including the VAR personnel.
“Aburida demanded the investigation of the entire team of referees, including the video technology referees, because of the blatant errors and insisting on not reviewing some of the footage that we believe are in favour of the Egyptian national team, and we see in it the Pharaohs’ right to a correct goal and a penalty,” it added.
Aburida further requested that the referee and his crew be removed from the World Cup altogether.
The president “demanded the exclusion of the referee and the entire crew from the World Cup after investigating these mistakes and proving the crime of discrimination against the Egyptian national team.
Egypt’s head coach Hossam Hassan voiced similar frustrations right after the final whistle: “I do not want to put it nicely and talk about hard luck. We have been cheated unfairly today, we have suffered injustice.
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play. There has not been respect or fair play.”
Hassan elaborated on BeIN, suggesting possible external influences at play.
“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champions 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 champions received support at every level, ” Hassan told journalists.
The grievances centre on key decisions during Tuesday evening’s last-16 encounter.
With Egypt leading 1-0 thanks to a Mostafa Ziko strike, the French official disallowed the goal following a VAR review that detected a foul on Argentina defender Lisandro Martinez earlier in the attacking move.
Ziko made amends minutes later when he fired Egypt into a 2-0 advantage, positioning the Pharaohs on the cusp of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.
Argentina, however, mounted a late fightback in stoppage time.
Cristian Romero and Lionel Messi restored parity for the defending champions before Enzo Fernandez netted the decisive third goal.
Egypt maintain that the build-up to Fernandez’s winner should have resulted in a penalty award after Alexis Mac Allister was seen pulling Hamdy Fathy.
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