Egyptian national team supporters expressed disappointment with referee Francois Letexier's leadership after their favorite team lost 2-3 to Argentina in the 2026 World Cup round of 16 match at Atlanta Stadium, United States, on Tuesday.
"We should have gotten a better result. There are several questions about this match, including our disallowed goal," said Wail, an Egyptian supporter.
Wail touched on Egypt's second goal from Mostafa Zaki Abdelraouf (58') which was disallowed because referee Letexier considered there had been a previous foul on Lisandro Martinez after reviewing with VAR.
The Egyptian squad protested the decision, but the referee upheld his decision. Egypt continued to score and take a 2-0 lead thanks to Mostafa Zaki Abdelraouf's 67th-minute equalizer, which completed Yasser Ibrahim's first goal (15').
However, Argentina equalized through Cristian Romero (79') and Lionel Messi (83'). Argentina then won the match after Enzo Fernandez headed the ball in in the 90+2 minute.
Argentina's third goal was also controversial because there were two incidents in Argentina's penalty box that were possibly violations.
First, Alexis Mac Allister pulled Hamdy Fathy's jersey. The referee allowed play to continue.
Second, Julian Alvarez appeared to bring down Mohamed Salah in the penalty area. From there, the ball was played forward, to Lautaro Martinez, who provided the assist for Enzo Fernandez's goal.
