“This tournament is fixed’: Egypt star launches furious attack on FIFA after controversial Argentina defeat

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Egyptian player Mustafa Zico took to Instagram to blast FIFA over the refereeing decisions in their game against Argentina.The forward did not hold back in expressing his intense frustration following Egypt’s heartbreaking elimination from the tournament.DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL CAUGHTOFFSIDE APP FOR ALL THE LATEST & BREAKING UPDATES – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON APPLE & GOOGLE PLAYMustafa Zico takes to Instagram to blast FIFAFollowing the high-stakes match, Zico went public with his fury on social media, posting a scathing message directly aimed at football’s governing body.“You brought us all the way here just to cheat every other team? This tournament is fixed for your favorite and we all see it. God is sufficient for us. Keep running your ‘favorite team’ World Cup. Nobody cares anymore because we already know who wins. Shame on FIFA,” he wrote.?? Egyptian player Mustafa Zico took to Instagram to blast FIFA over the refereeing decisions in their game against Argentina."You brought us all the way here just to cheat every other team? This tournament is fixed for your favorite and we all see it. God is sufficient for… pic.twitter.com/vYLuR5OR7a— Legion (@_01Legion) July 8, 2026More Stories / Latest News“This tournament is fixed’: Egypt star launches furious attack on FIFA after controversial Argentina defeatJul 9 2026, 1:01Fabrizio Romano drops exciting Arsenal update on Bruno GuimaraesJul 9 2026, 0:16How much Manchester United could receive from Mason Greenwood’s Fenerbahce transferJul 8 2026, 23:22Controversy that happened during Egypt’s 3-2 defeat to ArgentinaThe social media storm followed an incredibly dramatic and contentious World Cup Round of 16 clash at the Atlanta Stadium, where defending champions Argentina crawled back from a 2-0 deficit.Egypt had established a shocking lead thanks to an early header from Yasser Ibrahim and a clinical 67th-minute strike from Zico himself.However, the major turning point occurred early in the second half when Zico found the back of the net for what he thought was Egypt’s second goal.Following a lengthy and controversial VAR review, the referee overturned the goal due to an alleged foul committed much earlier in the build-up play."It's clear that this tournament has been fixed." Egypt's Mostafa Zico was not happy with some of the decisions in their game against Argentina. pic.twitter.com/VbDdFbkRBC— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 7, 2026The final fifteen minutes of the match dissolved into chaos. Argentina launched a blistering comeback, with Cristian Romero, Lionel Messi, and Enzo Fernández scoring in quick succession.The Egyptian squad grew immensely frustrated as the referee turned down two late penalty appeals for the Pharaohs just before Fernandez struck the winner in stoppage time.The winning goal itself was also heavily disputed by the Egyptian camp, who believed there were fouls in the build-up that should have prevented the goal from standing.Egyptian FA have now launched an official complaint against the French referee.Hossam Hassan’s booking sparks further controversyOne of the biggest talking points of the match came when Egypt manager Hossam Hassan was shown a yellow card after making an “X” gesture with his arms on the touchline.The crossed-arms “X” signal is FIFA’s universal gesture for reporting alleged racist abuse. Under FIFA’s anti-racism procedures, a player, coach or team official can use the gesture to alert the referee to an alleged incident of discriminatory abuse.Want more CaughtOffside coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trustAccording to FIFA’s protocol, the signal is intended to activate a three-step process: initially stopping the match, then suspending it if the abuse continues, and ultimately abandoning the game should the situation remain unresolved.?TRENDING: FIFA created a rule where making an X sign with the arms activates an anti-racism protocol. Today, the Egyptian coach made the sign to report a case of racism committed by Argentina, but the referees ignored it and continued the game. pic.twitter.com/P94P6nKyyi— Polymarket Sports (@PolymarketSport) July 7, 2026Hassan’s gesture did not result in play being stopped. Instead, the referee booked the Egypt manager and allowed the match to continue, a decision that quickly became another major source of anger within the Egyptian camp and fuelled further criticism of the officiating after the final whistle. The post “This tournament is fixed’: Egypt star launches furious attack on FIFA after controversial Argentina defeat appeared first on CaughtOffside.