An emotional Mostafa Zico claimed “the referee has a robbed a whole nation” in a fiery interview after Egypt’s 3-2 World Cup Round of 16 loss to Argentina in Atlanta.
Lionel Messi’s reigning champions pulled off a comeback for the ages as they scored in the 79th, 83rd and 93rd minutes to come from behind against the Egyptians.
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The Pharaohs walked away feeling hard done by, however, as several big calls from Francois Letexier went against them.
Zico was the victim one such incident where his goal was ruled out for a contentious foul on Lisandro Martinez early in the build-up.
English journalist Henry Winter wrote on social media: “If VAR had gone back any further in that Egyptian move Tutankhamun would be involved”.
Winter also added that Zico’s finish “would have been one of the goals of the tournament” after the excellent lead-up play.
Zico copped a yellow card for taking his shirt off during the celebration of the ruled out goal.
He did get his name on the scoresheet in the 67th minute, however, to give Egypt a 2-0 lead.
But as well as the disallowed goal, the Egyptians also lamented their penalty shouts when Mohamed Salah was brought down in the box going unheard.
The Pharaoh’s bench erupted as a result with one member of the coaching staff receiving a red card.
The controversy did not end there, though, as in the build-up to Argentina’s winner scored by Enzo Fernandez, Egypt believe they should have instead been awarded a penalty for a pull by Alexis Mac Allister on Hamdy Fathy.
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All of those factors led to a teary Zico teeing off in his post-match interview.
“We produced a great performance against the world champions,” he said.
“I don’t know what happened in the second half. Strange things happened that everyone saw. It was as clear as the sun in broad daylight.
“The referee has robbed a whole nation of its efforts.
“Congratulations, Argentina, on winning the World Cup.”
Zico was also not in the mood for giving credit to his opponents, who kept their title defence alive with goals from Cristian Romero, Messi and Fernandez.
“If they had won solely on their own merits it would have been very different for us,” he said.
Meanwhile, Egypt coach Hossam Hassan claimed his side had been “cheated” out of a place in the World Cup quarter-finals.
“I do not want to put it nicely and talk about hard luck. We have been cheated unfairly today, we have suffered injustice,” Hassan said in an explosive press conference.
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play. There has not been respect or fair play,” Hassan continued.
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“A penalty was ruled out, was not even checked by VAR. A second goal was remarkably disallowed. There has not even been a VAR check when we have all seen the image of the (shirt) being pulled back.”
Hassan said he would not watch any more matches of the tournament, such was the injustice he felt.
“I am not going to continue following the matches of this World Cup, watching the matches of this World Cup.
“This is my own way of speaking up.”
In a separate interview, he added: “The referee is unfair, God is sufficient for me and the best disposer of affairs. He’s wasting the effort of an entire nation. The cup is directed towards Argentina.fcheated
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play. A penalty was ruled out and a second [incident] that should have been checked for a penalty for us was not even checked by the VAR. A second goal was remarkably, for whatever reason, disallowed.
“There seems to have been pressure on the Argentine side on the referee that has brought about this outcome.”
After Yasser Ibrahim’s header put Egypt in front, Argentina were awarded a penalty for a trip on Nicolas Tagliafico.
Messi’s problems with World Cup penalties continued as his effort was saved by Mostafa Shobeir.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner has now failed to score four of his eight non-shootout spot-kicks at the World Cup, including two misses at this tournament.
Hassan speculated that the officials had been put under pressure to keep one of the biggest names in the competition.
“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champions in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running,” he told BeIn Sports.
“In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champions received support at every level.”
Hassan also complained about the scheduling of the match for a noon kick-off, just four days after both sides had won their round of 32 matches.
“Whoever schedules those matches has never played football. You never schedule a game for 12pm. At noon you go for a walk or to eat brunch, you do not go to play football.
“When are the players supposed to eat? At 7.30am?
“There have been a lot of things to be questioned on and off the pitch.”