The internet was quick to point fingers at the officials after Argentina edged past Egypt in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 game. A 58th-minute moment when Mostafa Ziko found the back of the net was disallowed by VAR, which displeased many. While criticism mounted, Egyptian international referee Mohamed Adel offered a contrasting perspective.

“‎Salah’s shot doesn’t warrant going to the VAR because the touch happened after Salah lost the ball,” said Adel on Egyptian news channel TeN. “Our disallowed goal, the decision to disallow it is correct because Attia obstructed the Argentine defender before the goal. And the referee is not the reason for our loss.” [trans. from Arabic]

The match between Argentina and Egypt went down on Tuesday. The African nation entered as the underdogs against the defending champion. Yet, in just 15 minutes, Egypt’s Yasser Ibrahim opened up the scoresheet, following which they heavily relied on counterattacks. In the 58th minute of the game, an Argentinian corner presented Muhammad Salah & Co. a perfect opportunity to double their lead. And they did capitalize.

Midfielder Mostafa Ziko scored the goal. However, shortly after, the video assistant referee (VAR) intervened and spotted Egyptian midfielder Marwan Attia committing a foul on Lisandro Martínez by pulling his shirt and stepping on the Argentinian defender’s foot from behind. As a result, French referee Francois Letexier ruled the goal out. While there weren’t any major outbursts at that moment, the anger intensified later in the match.

In stoppage time, Mohamed Salah was brought down in Argentina’s penalty box by Julian Alvarez, but no penalty was awarded. And seconds later, the defending champions went down the other end to score the 3–2 winning goal (from Enzo Fernandez). Many drew parallels between Salah’s and Martinez’s incidents while Ziko called out the referee for poor officiating.

“The referee wasn’t good; he was unfair. His injustice was clear. He persecuted us from the start of the match. He doesn’t want us to win,” Ziko said, as reported by The Sun. “It was a rigged game. We were winning 2-0, and he kept coming at us. Congratulations to Argentina on another World Cup; it seems.”

These comments somewhat fueled the FIFA bias narrative around Lionel Messi-led Argentina. But referee Mohamed Adel shut down the narrative with his clear assessment of the situation. That said, Egypt exited the 2026 FIFA World Cup by matching its best finish of reaching the Round of 16. Meanwhile, the defending champions move ahead to face Switzerland in the quarterfinals on Saturday, 11 July 2026, at 8:00 PM CDT.