Egypt vs Argentina: A law-based critique of FIFA World Cup 2026

In one of the most dramatic and controversial fixtures of the 2026 FIFA World cup, reigning champions Argentina managed to claw back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in the Round of 16 against Egypt in a game that should have been praised for the inspirational quality of play.

What instead took precedence, however, were questions over referee Franois Letexier and the VAR team. Egypt Football Association brought an official complaint citing the “influential” nature of the officiating in the match, and called for an investigation for the full 90 minutes.

Being a football critic, I can say that this game highlighted, once again, the obstacles to perfection in the protocol of football.

The flashpoint arrived in the second half when Mostafa Ziko appeared to fire Egypt into a commanding lead. The goal was initially celebrated wildly before VAR intervened, ruling out the strike due to a foul by Marwan Attia on Argentina’s Lisandro Martínez in the build-up. According to IFAB Laws of the Game and the VAR Protocol, attacking team offences in the build-up phase — including fouls — are fully reviewable. This decision technically adheres to the rules, as VAR is empowered to scrutinize the entire attacking sequence for clear and obvious errors.

In the eyes of many, the intervention was downright fussy. The contact was tenuous at best, and calls into question the uniformity of the application of the rule. If these sort soft fouls will result in correctly disallowed goals, then why did we not see the issue called in other phases of the same game, or indeed the tournament? Egypt’s anger should not just have been at the banished goal, but at the feeling that the line was moveable when the home team was concerned.

Adding to the outcry was Egypt’s denied appeals for penalties, especially around the time of the match-winner. Expensive attempts for penalties from players such as Hamdy Fathy and Mohamed Salah were completely ignored in the final minutes without even a quick VAR check, the game report suggests. Under Law 12, a careless foul in the penalty area leads to an easy spot-kick, but the officials decided the contact was “ordinary football contact.” This unaccountability can be contrasted with the laser-like focus on Egypt’s goal.

The way Argentina swiftly scored all three late goals also drew attention. Doubts remained over possible fouls leading up to their equalizer and winning goal, with Video Assistant not intervening much if at all. Egyptians and officials seemingly furious with referees saw the goalkeeping coach receive a red card. Hours later FIFA’s head of refereeing Pierluigi Collina defended the social media evidence in the media, stating officials did an excellent job independently and as accurately as possible, but optics – especially when a star-studded Argentina side led by Leo Messi – didn’t do much to dispel conspiracy theories and bias accusations.

In conclusion, numerous individual judgements could be defended under the strict letter of the IFAB Laws of the Game and Video Assistant Referee specifications, but the whole package failed to demonstrate the parity and outward clarity appropriate for a World Cup encounter.

Close decisions had a lifting effect, and of ten speaking for the pain threshold, primarily affecting the unfortunate Egypt side that had scored twice and reached outs to the reigning champions.

It clearly illustrates, however, an inherent flaw that dogs the sport of today, rather than achieving what he sets out to do, the match official’s use of the technology damages every proceedings, all supporters and the image of the beautiful game as a whole.

Egypt robbed by refereeing farce in FIFA World Cup 2026?

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