History repeated itself yesterday, as another African country gave up their lead after the 80th minute.

Just fifteen minutes into the game, Egypt scored after Yasser Ibrahim header from Marwan Attia’s cross. And at the 67th minute, Mostafa Zico doubled Egypt’s lead after a counterattack involving Mohamed Salah and Haissem Hassan.

A minute before the 80th minute, Argentina’s Cristian Romero scored with a header from Messi’s corner to make it 2–1. Messi then secured the equaliser in the 83rd minute with a powerful strike to level the score at 2–2.

Before Argentina’s stoppage time goal, Egypt’s coach claims that Salah was bundled over in the box while Fathy was also clipped.

Egypt appealed for a penalty, but referee François Letexier waved play on after a brief VAR check and just seconds later, Argentina scored through Enzo Fernández leading to their elimination from the Round of 16 yesterday at the at Atlanta Stadium (Mercedes-Benz Stadium), USA.

Egypt sends a complaint to FIFA over disallowed goals, VAR controversial decisions

Consequently, Egyptian Football Association (EFA) has lodged a formal complaint with FIFA over how they were treated by match officials including the referrees urging that they all be removed in the rest of thetournament fixtures.

According to the EFA the referee François Letexier and his team’s “serious refereeing mistakes, double standards, and discriminatory decisions against Egypt” led to their unwarranted defeat against the defending champions.

“We call for the immediate removal of the referee and his assistants from the remainder of the tournament, and for FIFA to investigate both the officiating crew and the VAR team,” Egypt urged FIFA.

Egypt’s complaint cited three specific incidents in one sequence: the disallowed goal by Mostafa Zico after VAR review, the ignored penalty appeal involving Mohamed Salah and Hamdy Fathy, and Argentina’s stoppage‑time winner that followed immediately after the denied penalty.

Coach’s complaint after the game

Egypt coach Hossam Hassan echoed those concerns after the match, insisting his side had been denied fair treatment.

"Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running," Hassan said.

Goalscorer Mostafa Zico also criticised the officiating, saying: "The referee was really unfair. The injustice was clear. There's been unfairness right from the start of the match. It is clear that this tournament has been fixed."

The defeat denied Egypt a place in the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in the nation's history, while defending champions Argentina progressed to the last eight to face Switzerland.