A call from Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to FIFA president Gianni Infantino probably would lack the same punch as a call from the leader of the free world.
And there’s really nothing for El-Sisi to add at this point. The coach of the Egyptian team said it all after Tuesday’s loss to Argentina in the World Cup Round of 16.
Hossam Hassan went off on the pristine and non-corrupt international soccer federation, suggesting that FIFA wants to keep Argentina and superstar Lionel Messi alive in the tournament for as long as possible.
“We looked better than the reigning champions — better in everything — but the result was influenced by internal factors on the pitch and external factors off it,” Hassan told reporters, via Mark Ogden of ESPN. “Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion 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 champion received support at every level.”
Hassan said his team had objected before the match to the assigned referee, François Letexier of France. After the loss, Egypt was particularly upset that VAR was used to overturn a first-half goal that would have put Egypt ahead 2-0 (they later scored a second goal), and that a potential foul on Argentina just before the game-winning goal in extra time was not checked by VAR.
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play,” Hassan said. “A penalty was ruled out. It was not even checked by the VAR, and our second goal was remarkably, for whatever reason, disallowed. I want to put it in beautiful words and say, ‘Hard luck,’ but we have been treated unfairly and it has been an injustice.”
It was a thrilling ending, with Argentina scoring three times after the 78th minute. Egypt has a very different view of the outcome.
The Egyptian Football Association thereafter called for an investigation of the entire team of referees and video referees based on “blatant errors and insisting on not reviewing some of the footage that we believe are in [favor] of the Egyptian national team.” It also “demanded the exclusion of the referee and the entire crew from the World Cup after investigating these mistakes,” and alleging “the crime of discrimination against the Egyptian national team.”
It’s the second time in two matches that questions were raised regarding whether FIFA is favoring Argentina. After Friday night’s come-from-behind win over Cape Verde, Infantino said he “suffered” with Argentina before hastily adding “but I’m neutral.”
Many adjectives have been used to describe Infantino. Lately, “neutral” isn’t one of them.
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