Argentina have reached the 2026 World Cup quarter-finals as defending champions, but their progress has been accompanied by accusations of favourable treatment, most pointedly from Egypt after their 3-2 last-16 defeat. Egypt's coach Hossam Hassan claimed his side had "suffered injustice" and suggested Fifa wanted to keep the world champions and Lionel Messi in the tournament, even asking Fifa to remove the match officials. BBC Sport weighs the various grievances and finds them controversial but far short of proof of a conspiracy.

Egypt led 2-0 with 11 minutes remaining before Argentina scored three times, including a stoppage-time winner from Enzo Fernández, and complained of a disallowed Mostafa Zico goal and two unawarded penalty claims involving Mohamed Salah and Hamdi Fathy. Attention has also fallen on the France v Morocco quarter-final, where for the first time the entire on-field team plus the lead VAR are Argentine, led by referee Facundo Tello. Further scrutiny surrounds Messi avoiding a red card against Algeria for a challenge similar to one that saw the USA's Folarin Balogun dismissed — an escape that preserved five of his eight tournament goals — while Argentina also face less booking jeopardy than rivals, with only Gonzalo Montiel a yellow card away from a semi-final ban.