Egypt coach Hossam Hassan has been booked due to a VAR controversy after gesturing with his arm in the dying moments of the World Cup Round of 16 match against Argentina.
Hossam Hassan was wanted by François Letexier despite displaying the ‘X’ symbol symbolizing racist abuse (Image: Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP via Getty Images)
Egypt’s head coach Hossam Hassan drew attention for gesturing towards the refereeing team during their round of 16 match against Argentina.
At Atlanta Stadium, Egypt gave up a 2-0 advantage to lose 3-2 to Lionel Messi’s Argentina, keeping the defending World Cup champions’ dreams of retaining the trophy alive. As the game drew to a close, a number of Egyptian players and coaching staff were shown yellow cards by French referee François Letexier.
One of Egypt’s backroom staff was also shown a red card in the 94th minute, with spectators claiming the match was rigged following a critical VAR review that was unfavorable to the African side. This decision could have resulted in a draw in Egypt’s favor.
In the ensuing confusion, Hassan raised his arms to make an “X” symbol. When the head coach made the gesture right in front of Letexier, French officials seemed to pay no heed to the Egyptian manager’s pleas.
The meaning behind this symbol is tied to FIFA’s widely recognized gesture for reporting racist abuse. When players, coaches, and team officials cross their arms and make an X, it signals to referees that some form of racist abuse has occurred.
If the referee recognizes the gesture, a three-step process begins, starting with an immediate stoppage of the match at the referee’s discretion. If the abuse continues, the match will be suspended, and if it continues beyond that, the match will eventually be abandoned.
However, without taking these three steps, Hassan was shown a yellow card and the match continued.
Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan raised his arms to form an ‘X’ towards the referee at Atlanta Stadium (Image: Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
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The reasons behind Hassan’s booking remain unclear, but his frustration was clearly growing throughout the match. In the second half, Mohamed Salah’s stunning goal and Mostoka Zico seemed to take the Argentine defense completely by surprise and give Egypt a 2-0 advantage.
However, referee Letexier was alerted by VAR to look for a possible foul at the other end of the pitch. A review ruled that Lisandro Martinez was illegally brought down by the Egyptian player and choked out the goal more than 20 seconds after Zico’s shot.
Despite Zico’s stunning effort six minutes later, supporters took to social media in droves, convinced that officials were colluding to keep Messi’s side on track for their World Cup campaign.
“This tournament is rigged. They stole a goal from Egypt with the corruption on display,” one supporter wrote, while another declared: “Fixed as always.”
Egyptian soccer expert Ahmad Youssef told BBC Radio 5 Live: “There is great disappointment across Egypt. There are so many inconsistencies at the moment in terms of VAR, decisions and how far back they go to make decisions.”
“The referee made the wrong decision in disallowing Egypt’s second goal. I completely understand why the Egyptian coaching staff and team are so disappointed, as the fouls were minimal even though so many miles had passed.”
“There is a question of whether there would have been the same consistency if it had been Lionel Messi or someone else in an Argentina shirt. That’s what really hurts people.”
Zico’s goal was followed by Messi’s one shortly after, and Enzo Fernandes’ last-gasp header wrapped up the comeback to give Argentina a 3-2 victory.
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