A controversial World Cup loss turned into an international incident on Tuesday after Egyptian coaches reacted angrily to the Israeli flag following their loss to Argentina.
The stunning scene unfolded in the moments after a highly controversial penalty against the Egyptians took away a goal that would have given the North African country a 2-0 lead.
As Breitbart’s Paul Bois reports:
Egypt had an incredibly strong start against the favored Argentina when the team secured a 2-0 lead with an impressive goal from Mostafa Ziko following a pass from Mo Salah at the 58-minute mark. However, the moment of victory took a dark turn when video-assisted replay (VAR) appeared to show Egypt’s Marwan Attia getting entangled with Argentine defender Lisandro Martinez on the whole other side of the pitch. Following a review, the refs retroactively ruled that a foul had taken place and Egypt’s goal was rescinded.
Argentina would go on to defeat Egypt 3-2 with a goal in stoppage time.
That, together with the goal Egypt scored in the 79th minute, would have given Egypt a 3-0 lead with just over ten minutes left in regulation, a nearly insurmountable lead even for an Argentinian squad led by Lionel Messi.
The disallowed goal set off a flurry of tackles, shoving, yellow cards, and other disciplinary actions that threatened to turn the match into a brawl, especially after Argentina was not called for what appeared to be a foul on Egyptian star Mo Salah, and Argentina mounted a comeback.
Enraged Egyptian coaches fought among themselves and appeared to try to fight opposing players, as the situation descended into chaos.
As the coaches were making their way off the field, an Argentinian fan displayed an Israeli flag. The coaches did not appreciate it.
One of the Egyptian coaches pointed angrily at the fan holding the flag and even appeared to spit at him. Oddly, the Egyptian coach seemed to take his frustrations out on a photographer as he made his way off the field.
The moment has its roots in the aftermath of Egypt’s victory over Australia earlier in the World Cup, when Egyptian coaches displayed a Palestinian flag during their celebration while fans chanted, “Free Palestine!”
Following the gut-wrenching loss, Egypt’s head coach Hossam Hassan lashed out at the referees, claiming they officiated the game in a way to advance Argentina.
“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition,” Hossan said. “Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running. In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champion received support at every level.
“There seem to be pressures from the Argentina side on this outcome,” he continued. “We were objecting to the selection of the referee because of the French situation [Argentina beat France in the 2022 World Cup final], but everybody has to suffer at some point and we suffered.
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play. A penalty was ruled out [alleged foul on Mohamed Salah], it was not even checked by the VAR and our second goal was remarkably, for whatever reason, disallowed.
“We have all seen the shirt pulled back [by Mac Allister] and not even a VAR check. Life is unfair, normal life is unfair, so why is there no fairness in sports? I’m not convinced by this outcome and the way things unfolded in this match.
“I want to put it in beautiful words and say hard luck, but we have been treated unfairly, and it has been an injustice.”
With Egypt’s ouster, Argentina will now advance to the quarterfinals, where they will face Switzerland.