Egypt’s forward Mostafa Zico accused officials of ‘rigging’ his side’s dramatic 3-2 FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 16 defeat to Argentina, slamming several controversial decisions after the match.
Argentina made a stunning comeback from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at the Atlanta Stadium in front of a crowd of 68,239, booking their place in the quarter-finals.
The Pharaohs dominated for much of the match, but Cristian Romero sparked Argentina’s revival before Lionel Messi equalized five minutes later, setting up a dramatic finale.
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Enzo Fernandez completed the turnaround in stoppage time by heading in Lautaro Martinez’s cross, sending Argentina into the last eight, where they will face either Colombia or Switzerland.
Egypt were left frustrated after a penalty appeal involving Mohamed Salah was waved away moments before the decisive counter-attacking goal.
After the match, emotional Zico criticized the referee, claiming the game had been rigged.
“It was a rigged game. It wasn’t our fault. That referee… it seems like this match was rigged,” he said.
He remarked that his team had been leading 2-0 before the referee’s decisions changed the course of the match, sarcastically congratulating Argentina on “another World Cup.”
“We were winning 2-0, and he kept coming at us. Congratulations to Argentina on another World Cup, it seems,” he continued.
Zico added that Egypt had never believed the match was already won and had been fully aware they were facing the reigning world champions and one of the tournament favourites.
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“At no point did we think the match was already decided. We knew we were facing the reigning world champions.”
“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.”
He concluded by saying that had Argentina prevailed purely on their own merits, Egypt would have accepted the result very differently.
“Even before the game started, we knew we would be facing a very strong team and one of the favourites for the title, But if they had won solely on their own merits it would have been very different for us.”
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