Are Argentina being treated favourably at World Cup?
-
15'
Goal YASSER IBRAHIM (Egypt) scores!!
-
21'
Yellow card SAAFAN ELSAGHIR (Staff) (Egypt) is booked
-
67'
Goal MOSTAFA ZICO (Egypt) scores!!
-
79'
Goal Cristian ROMERO (Argentina) scores!!
-
83'
Goal Lionel MESSI (Argentina) scores!!
-
90'+2'
Goal Enzo FERNANDEZ (Argentina) scores!!
-
90'+3'
Yellow card MOSTAFA SHOUBIR (Egypt) is booked by
-
90'+4'
Yellow card HAMDY FATHY (Egypt) is booked by
-
90'+4'
Red card SAAFAN ELSAGHIR (Staff) (Egypt) is sent
-
90'+8'
Yellow card MARAWAN ATTIA (Egypt) is booked by
-
90'+9'
Yellow card HOSSAM HASSAN (Egypt) is booked by
-
90'
Yellow card HAISSEM HASSAN (Egypt) is booked by
Argentina squad
- Selected
-
3 Nicolas TAGLIAFICO Defender
-
5 Leandro PAREDES Midfielder
-
6 Lisandro MARTINEZ Defender
-
7 Rodrigo DE PAUL Midfielder
-
9 Julian ALVAREZ Forward
-
10 Lionel MESSI C Forward
-
13 Cristian ROMERO Defender
-
20 Alexis MAC ALLISTER Midfielder
-
23 Emiliano MARTINEZ Goalkeeper
-
24 Enzo FERNANDEZ Midfielder
-
26 Nahuel MOLINA Defender
-
1 Juan MUSSO Goalkeeper
-
2 Marcos SENESI Defender
-
4 Gonzalo MONTIEL Defender
-
8 Valentin BARCO Midfielder
-
11 Giovani Lo Celso Midfielder
-
12 Geronimo RULLI Goalkeeper
-
14 Exequiel PALACIOS Midfielder
-
15 Nico GONZALEZ Midfielder
-
16 Thiago ALMADA Forward
-
17 Giuliano SIMEONE Forward
-
18 Nico PAZ Forward
-
19 Nicolas OTAMENDI Defender
-
21 Jose Manuel LOPEZ Forward
-
22 Lautaro MARTINEZ Forward
-
25 Facundo MEDINA Defender
Egypt squad
- Selected
-
2 YASSER IBRAHIM Defender
-
3 MOHAMED HANY Defender
-
5 RAMY RABIA Defender
-
8 EMAM ASHOUR Midfielder
-
10 MOHAMED SALAH C Forward
-
11 MOSTAFA ZICO Midfielder
-
12 Haissem HASSAN Forward
-
15 KARIM HAFEZ Defender
-
17 MOHANAD LASHIN Midfielder
-
19 MARAWAN ATTIA Midfielder
-
23 MOSTAFA SHOUBIR Goalkeeper
-
1 MOHAMED ELSHENAWY Goalkeeper
-
4 HOSSAM ABDELMAGUID Defender
-
7 TREZEGUET Forward
-
9 HAMZA ABDELKARIM Forward
-
14 HAMDY FATHY Midfielder
-
16 MAHDY SOLIMAN Goalkeeper
-
18 NABIL DONGA Midfielder
-
20 IBRAHIM ADEL Forward
-
21 MAHMOUD SABER Midfielder
-
22 OMAR MARMOUSH Forward
-
24 TAREK ALAA Defender
-
25 ZIZO Forward
-
26 MOHAMED ALAA Goalkeeper
- Full squad
-
6 MOHAMED ABDELMONEIM Defender
-
13 AHMED FATOUH Defender
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.
- Egypt allege Fifa bias towards Argentina and Messi after 3-2 loss.
- BBC finds incidents controversial but no proof of a conspiracy.
- All-Argentine officials appointed for France's quarter-final, a questionable look.