Egypt Submit Formal Complaint Following Defeat to Argentina in World Cup Knockout Clash

The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) has called for an investigation into the refereeing decisions made during Egypt's 3-2 defeat to defending champions Argentina in the latest World Cup knockout clash.

The federation said its president submitted a formal complaint to FIFA, asking for an inquiry into French referee Francois Letexier. The EFA claimed several major refereeing mistakes during the match had a direct impact on the result, which is why they want clear answers for them.

"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 the federation statement.

The statement further said that the federation is seeking investigation of the entire team of referees, as there were some collective wrong calls made by them during the match.

"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," said the federation statement.

Talking about the Egypt vs Argentina match, the Pharaohs were in control for most of the game and held a 2-0 lead until the 79th minute. Yasser Ibrahim opened the scoring in the 15th minute before Mostafa Ziko doubled the advantage in the 69th.

However, Argentina produced a dramatic comeback by scoring three goals in just 13 minutes. Cristian Romero started the fightback before Lionel Messi and Enzo Fernandez added the other two goals to complete the turnaround.

Egypt were left unhappy with several refereeing decisions made during the stoppage time. One of them included Mohamed Salah, who went down inside the penalty area, but the incident was not reviewed by VAR. The situation became even more tense when Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan received a yellow card from Francois Letexier for protesting the decision not to use VAR.

After the match, Hossam Hassan strongly criticized the refereeing and said Egypt had suffered an injustice during the Round of 16 clash against Argentina.

"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." said Hossam Hassan after the match.