Egypt suffered a heartbreaking loss in the Round of 16 on Tuesday as Argentina scored three goals in the final 20 minutes to win, 3-2, in Atlanta, Ga.
Egypt held a 2-0 lead before Cristian Romero, Lionel Messi and Enzo Fernández each scored to secure their spot in the quarterfinal round.
After the match, Egypt coach Hossam Hassan was not thrilled with the officials, and he proceeded to call them out for “injustice.”
“I think the affect of this outcome goes beyond the defeated seat. We haven’t seen respect nor fair play,” Hassan said through translation. “I’m not convinced with this outcome, with the way things unfolded in this match. I do not want to try to put it nicely with beautiful wording, selective words, saying hard luck and so and so forth. We’ve been treated unfairly today. We’ve suffered injustice.”
🚨🚨 Egypt coach Hassam: “Today UNFAIR things have happened”. ⤵️🇪🇬 pic.twitter.com/YcD36FMtu3
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 7, 2026
Hassan’s biggest issue was the goal that was disallowed. Egypt appeared to take a 2-0 lead, but VAR overturned it, calling Egypt for a foul in an odd sequence.
After VAR review, Egypt's goal is disallowed due to a foul in the offensive build up pic.twitter.com/WB7WgVGpQL
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 7, 2026
Hassan also said it was a “rigged match” in favor of Argentina, and he did not hide his feelings after the loss.
While Egypt’s impressive World Cup run has come to an end, Messi and Argentina will face the winner of Switzerland and Colombia.
