ATLANTA : Egypt have lodged a formal complaint with FIFA against referee François Letexier following their 3-2 defeat by defending champions Argentina in the FIFA World Cup, according to Spanish newspaper Diario AS.
The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) has reportedly asked FIFA to investigate the French official and his refereeing team over what it described as controversial decisions during Tuesday’s Round of 16 match. The report added that the EFA also requested the officiating team be removed from the remainder of the tournament.
Reuters could not independently verify the report, and FIFA had not immediately commented.
Egypt squandered a 2-0 lead as Argentina staged a dramatic comeback, with Lionel Messi scoring once and setting up another before Enzo Fernandez netted the winner in stoppage time.
The Egyptians were left aggrieved by several refereeing decisions, including the disallowing of a goal after a VAR review and the failure to review a penalty appeal in the build-up to Argentina’s decisive goal.
Egypt coach Hassan questioned the officiating after the match and suggested factors beyond the team’s performance had influenced the result.
“We looked better than the reigning champion – better in everything – but the result was influenced by internal factors on the pitch and external factors off it,” Hassan told reporters.
“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running.”
Hassan also criticised Letexier’s handling of two key incidents, including Egypt’s disallowed goal and an unreviewed penalty appeal involving Alexis Mac Allister before Fernandez scored the winner.
“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, for whatever reason, disallowed. We have been treated unfairly, and it has been an injustice.”
Argentina advanced to the quarter-finals, while Egypt were eliminated from the tournament.
