Egypt makes huge demand to FIFA following controversial Argentina game
The fall out from Egypt's heartbreaking World Cup defeat to Argentina refuses to die down.
Egypt looked as though they were pulling off the mother of all World Cup upsets by dumping the reigning champions out of the tournament in the last 16 on Tuesday, July 7.
The Pharaohs were two goals to the good with 15 minutes remaining but capitulated as Argentina roared back to win 3-2 in the dying moments.
However, Egypt were left furious in the aftermath of the game as they felt several refereeing decisions went against them, leading to a hot-tempered conclusion of the game, with goalkeeper coach Saafan El-Sagheer being shown a red card after an altercation with Lionel Messi.
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Manager Hossam Hassan, who was booked after making an X gesture following the winning goal, called the result an 'injustice'.
Still obviously feeling aggrieved, the Egyptian FA have now called for every official involved in the match to be kicked out of the World Cup.
Egypt FA want referee investigation
It was a game littered with contentious decisions.
Egypt saw a goal from Mostafa Ziko when they were 1-0 up disallowed due to a foul by Marwan Attia at the other end of the pitch at the start of the sweeping counterattack.
Ziko did manage to grab his goal shortly afterwards, though,
However, Egypt were left apoplectic when Enzo Fernández headed in the 94th-minute winner as, in similar circumstances to their disallowed goal, they thought Mohamed Salah was fouled in the Argentina penalty area at the start of the move.
Now the Egyptian Football Association has called on FIFA to take drastic action.
The EFA said in a statement: "Hany Abou Rida, president of the Egyptian football federation, filed a complaint with FIFA, demanding an investigation into the French referee Francois Letexier after the serious refereeing mistakes committed by the team of referees and double standards, which caused the Egypt team to lose the match and leave the World Cup."
The EFA have alleged that VAR did not review incidents against them during the match and want an investigation into the team of officials, claiming there were 'blatant errors' with the referee 'insisting on not reviewing some of the footage.'
Frenchman Francois Letexier was the man in the middle for the match, with compatriots Cyril Mugnier and Mehdi Rahmouni serving as assistants.
The fourth official and reserve AR were Norwegian pair Espen Eskas and Isaak Bashevkin.
The Video Assistant Referee and the first assistant, Jerome Brisarsd and Willy Delajod, were both French, while the second VAR assistant was Belgian Bram Van Driessche.
The EFA has 'demanded the exclusion of the referee and the entire crew from the World Cup after investigating these mistakes' and alleged 'the crime of discrimination against the Egyptian national team.'
Goals from Yasser Ibrahim and Ziko gave Egypt the two-goal advantage, with Messi missing a penalty in between, but the No.10 inspired the comeback by setting up Cristian Romero's goal and scoring the equaliser.
Fernandez then headed in the winner late on.
After the match, Ziko said: "The referee was really unfair. The injustice was clear. There's been an unfairness right from the start of the match.
"It is clear that this tournament has been fixed."
LADbible Group has approached FIFA for comment.
Daniel Murphy