World Cup 2026: Are Argentina being treated well at the World Cup?

After Tuesday’s 3-2 defeat, it’s easy to see why Egypt are so upset.

The Africans led 2-0 with 11 minutes remaining on the brink of their first ever quarter-final appearance.

But it all went wrong when Argentina turned the game on its head and scored the winner in extra time.

Egypt says there is something more suspicious at play. French referee Francois Letissier and his team put their exit down to “serious refereeing errors” and “double standards”.

The Pharaohs were ruled out by a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) intervention.

They also claim that Argentina’s winner should have been disallowed and they were awarded a penalty instead.

Mostafa Zico’s superb goal was conceded after Marwan Attia was penalized for kicking Lisandro Martinez early in the period.

Controversially, they scored a second goal nine minutes later for a 1-0 lead. You cannot prove that the game would have taken a different course had Zico’s goal stopped.

Egypt believed they had two free-kicks on their side before Enzo Fernandez headed over.

Hamdi Fati went to ground claiming he was tackled by Alexis McAllister, which was not clear in the replays, while Mohamed Salah felt he had been tripped up by Julian Alvarez.

There were some similarities between Martinez’s and Salah’s situations, foot-to-foot contact, but not enough for a penalty.

Had Salah been off the pitch, Egypt would have had a better chance to score. VAR only awards a foul – as in Martinez’s case – rather than a penalty.

Controversial? Absolutely. But this is not proof of a conspiracy in favor of Messi.