Egypt feels hard done by, but ‘rigged match’ remark may prove costly

The angst in the Egypt camp is totally understandable — though one hopes that their fans do not pay for head coach Hossam Hassan’s emotional outburst after his team’s heartbreak against defending champions Argentina in Miami on Tuesday night (IST). To say it was "clearly a rigged match" is bound to have ramifications as FIFA is apparently reviewing his post-match comments, as well as those by support staff and players.

The agony of a so-near-yet-so-far situation has a lot to do with the meltdown as one saw Hossam — and a number of other support staff — confront French referee Francois Letexier in the dying moments of the match. Letexier, realising the situation was getting out of control, booked a few of them, but tougher punishment could be round the corner.

‘’I will say what’s on my mind regardless of the consequence, this was clearly a rigged match and the whole world saw it. And I want to say one more thing, if they want them (Argentina) to win so bad, why call everyone to come and participate?’’ were Hossam's exact words after the match.

Mostafa Ziko, whose disallowed goal has been the biggest bone of contention, said "FIFA unfair", while the team's talismanic captain Mo Salah was one of the few players who kept calm.

The sentiments are really strong — fuelled by comments from legends like Brazil’s Ronaldo, Ireland's Roy Keane and numerous pundits who came down strongly on the refereeing as well as the inconsistencies of VAR, which have acquired a notoriety of their own. Football watchers over the years will agree to an inherent bias within the establishment for the 'big teams' much as in other sporting disciplines for obvious reasons, but FIFA has of late become a soft target for its blatant cozying up to power (read US president Donald Trump) and letting politics interfere with football.

How justified is Hossam’s contention that the match was ‘rigged’? Bluntly put, it's one of those provocative comments that are unable to withstand scrutiny, but the same cannot be said of the inconsistency in the case of two key decisions which could have changed the tempo of the last 16 match.

The first was when Ziko scored what appeared to be Egypt’s second goal, but a highly controversial VAR review chalked the goal off. The referee ruled that Egyptian midfielder Marwan Attia committed a minor foul on Lisandro Martínez at the very beginning of the counterattack, roughly 100 yards away from Argentina’s goal. Critics, however, argue this violated standard VAR protocol because Argentina had multiple chances to recover the ball afterward.

Much later in the game, Egypt vehemently appealed for a penalty kick when Julián Álvarez appeared to trip Salah inside the Argentine penalty box. The referee refused to award the penalty or even initiate a VAR review, and seconds after the unreviewed foul, Argentina launched a counterattack and scored its match-winner via Enzo Fernández in stoppage time. The Egyptian camp argued that the entire sequence should have been halted for the foul on Salah and a penalty awarded.

In hindsight, both decisions could have swung the momentum in favour of Egypt, but it’s a question of ifs and buts rather than definite conclusions. Keane, the Manchester United legend and now a TV pundit, said: ‘’I am tired of watching VAR become selective. One incident gets dissected for minutes, another is waved away without the same scrutiny. That’s not consistency and it destroys trust in the game.’’

The Irish legend, known for his plain-speaking, hit the nail on the head when he said: ‘’Football doesn’t need protection for big teams. It needs consistency and officials willing to apply the same standard to everyone. Tonight, Egypt will feel they were denied that and that’s why, this match will be remembered for controversy before it is remembered for football.’’

And that itself will be a pity. Lost in all this noise is a phenomenal show of character from the Argentine squad as it pulled back from 0-2 to 3-2 in a span of 13 minutes, including a stunner from Messi.