Fans enjoy sports because they can see talent, teamwork, and determination. Football fans often watch the World Cup because they can see countries all around the world competing to get glory and entertain millions of fans. However, if a game includes questionable decisions or moments that seem unfair, people begin to wonder if the result was truly based on performance.
The round of 16 game between Egypt and Argentina on July 7 appeared to be in favor of Argentina’s advancement due to questionable referee decisions and the referee's ignoring Egypt’s pleas, therefore giving the Argentine team an unfair advantage.
The match can be argued to be unfair because several referee decisions seemed to favor Argentina. Throughout the game, there were moments when similar fouls got judged differently depending on who committed the foul. For example, at the 43rd minute of the match, Nahuel Molina, who is a right-back for the Argentine National Football team, slapped Emam Ashour, who is a center midfielder for the Egyptian National Football team. Even though it can be argued that Molina slapped Emam on purpose, as seen in certain angles, the referee didn’t accept the VAR review, nor give a foul or a card.
Minor fouls like stepping on the other’s foot by accident gave the Argentine team access to the ball. One example of this particular circumstance is at the 57th minute of the match, Marwan Attita, the midfielder for the Egyptian national football team, accidentally stepped on Lisandro Martinez. Normally, these incidents were judged by whether the player who committed the foul applied excessive force to the attacker and committed the foul carelessly. If this is the case, the attacker’s team is awarded a free kick. However, Marwan Attita’s foul does not match any of the rules.
Regardless, the referee counted this incident as a foul and gave the Argentine team an unfair advantage. Nevertheless, even with the disadvantage, the Egyptian team launched a counter-attack soon after. Approximately 18 seconds after the foul, Mostafa Zico, Egypt’s forward and winger, scored on the Argentine team. What’s shocking is that the goal was disallowed because of the minor foul committed by Marwan Attita from 80 yards away, who stepped on Lisandro Martínez's foot during an Argentine attack. In normal circumstances, these fouls aren’t even supposed to be given a chance to be reviewed by VAR, but still, the referee goes in favor of the Argentine team, showing that the Argentine team had an unfair advantage.
This is not only when Argentina is attacking. Whenever Argentina commits a defensive foul on the Egyptian team, regardless of the foul’s intensity, no free kicks or yellow cards are given to the Argentine team.
An example is at the 91st minute of the match, Julian Alvarez from the Argentine team commits a foul on Mohamed Salah inside the penalty box. Alvarez stuck his leg out toward the direction of Salah’s breakthrough, and it could be proposed that Alvarez tripped Salah on purpose to block him from going any deeper into the penalty box, or possibly scoring.
However, no foul was called. After the foul, the Argentine team launched a counter-attack as well. Approximately 16 seconds later, Enzo Fernandez scored. If we use the same criteria used for Attita’s foul on L. Martinez, it goes like this:
Similarities:
- Both incidents have a possibility of a foul before the attacking phase.
- Both attacking teams kept possession of the ball after the foul.
- Both teams scored less than 20 seconds after the incidents.
- In both attacking phases, the ball was played between 3 or more players before the finish.
Differences:
- For the Argentine team, VAR review was allowed, and Zico’s goal was disallowed.
- The Egyptian team’s plea for VAR was not granted, and E. Fernandez’s goal still stands.
Those are the facts of the two incidents and the decisions that the referee made. It is crystal clear that the referee made unfair decisions toward the Egyptian team that gave Argentina an advantage.
Throughout, Egypt’s team's pleas were repeatedly rejected, and protests from Egypt’s managers led to yellow cards. The situation was so severe that after the match, Egypt’s head coach, Hossam Hassan, made the ‘X Sign’ with his hands, a new protocol introduced by FIFA for 2024, which represents a ‘No racism’ to the referees. According to the official FIFA website, when the no racism sign happens, all referees are supposed to follow 3 protocols:
- Stop the match
- Upon the restart, if the racism continues, the match will be suspended.
- Upon the second restart, if racism continues, the match will be abandoned.
However, the way the referee responded to the no racism sign was truly questionable. He showed Hassan a yellow card. One of the managers who was protesting to the referee next to Hassan got a red card.
Soon after the match, Hassan posted on Instagram saying, “I would not watch another minute of the World Cup.” After the post, the referee deactivated his Instagram account.
Mostafa Zico added in the post-match interview that, “The referee is unfair, God is sufficient for me and the best disposer of affairs. He's wasting the effort of an entire nation.” He also congratulated Argentina for winning the World Cup in a very sarcastic manner. The stats also make sense. Argentina committed to 13 fouls, but no yellow cards. Egypt committed only 11 fouls, yet 4 yellow cards and 1 red card.
Egypt’s National Football Team’s captain, Mo Salah, also later posted on social media that, "I know you're still upset, but I promise you that I'll do everything in my power to ensure this marks a fresh start for Egyptian football on the international stage. Qualifying for the World Cup won't be enough, and just participating won't cut it either. This team deserves your trust.” (Translated from Arabic)
Still, some people think that Argentina deserved to win because of their reputation for being the most skilled team in the world. It is also true that referees are human and sometimes make mistakes under pressure. However, when several controversial decisions all give an unfair advantage to one team only, in this case, the Argentine team, it is understandable why fans truly wonder whether the match is really fair or not.
In the end, I believe that the match was in favor of the Argentine team due to repeated questionable decisions made by the referee. This match made fans wonder if the World Cup is truly a fair experience for all teams. Even if the Argentine team has more skill and experience than the Egyptian team, every team deserves a fair chance to win.
