Egypt boss claims 'injustice' after World Cup defeat

With 12 minutes of normal time remaining, Egypt stood on the cusp of their greatest ever World Cup result.

The Pharaohs led Argentina, the reigning world champions, 2-0 in Atlanta Stadium.

A quarter-final spot - their first - beckoned for the football-obsessed African country.

Then it went wrong very quickly. Horribly wrong.

When Cristian Romero reduced the deficit in the 79th minute, it was a case of Egypt digging in and getting over the line. But they looked panic-stricken when captain Lionel Messi - who else? - made it 2-2 four minutes later.

Enzo Fernandez then completed a remarkable Argentina turnaround with a header in the second minute of stoppage-time to send their fans wild with delight.

Egypt were down and out - and downright furious after the video assistant referee (VAR) ruled out a second goal by Mostafa Zico for a foul after midfielder Marwan Attia was penalised for slightly stepping on Lisandro Martinez at the start of the move, when they were leading 1-0.

They were also adamant Mohamed Salah was fouled in Argentina's penalty area, seconds before the reigning champions broke for the winner.

When French referee Francois Letexier signalled full-time, many of Egypt's players slumped to the floor in disbelief at what had just happened.

In an explosive interview after the game, Egypt boss Hossam Hassan said his side had been "treated unfairly" and "suffered injustice". BBC Sport has approached Fifa for comment.

"There have been a lot of things to be questioned on and off the pitch," added Hassan.

"Negative aspects all around. It's just about credibility, lack of credibility with how things unfolded.

"Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running.

"The world champion received support at every level. There seem to be pressures from the Argentina side on this outcome."

This match had everything - a penalty save, a disallowed goal, a red card as well as a thrilling comeback.

BBC Sport unpicks a game that will go down in World Cup history for featuring a team who were two goals down so late on, but who went on to win without needing extra time.

'Why is there no fairness in sports?'

"We need to appear in a better way at the World Cup," Egypt head coach Hassan had said on the eve of the tournament as he addressed his nation's poor World Cup record.

Egypt arrived in North America as World Cup underachievers, having come up short in their previous three appearances on the global stage, failing to win any of their seven matches.

Having secured a first win by overcoming New Zealand in a group game in Vancouver on 22 June, the Pharaohs took the lead against the three-time world champions Argentina when Yasser Ibrahim headed home in the 15th-minute.

In an incident-packed game, Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir produced a magnificent save to keep out Messi's penalty before the Pharaohs thought they had scored another only for it to be disallowed.

Fernandez's late, late winner brought further anger as Egypt screamed for a penalty after a foul on Salah, and a member of Egypt's backroom team on the bench was shown a red card.

In addition, Egypt's head coach was booked for protesting after Argentina's winner when he crossed his arms in front of him, which is the Fifa-backed symbol for players and coaches to alert the referee of a racist incident.

The Pharaohs boss did not refer to his gesture after the match.

"We haven't seen respect or fair play," he said.

"A penalty (for us) was ruled out, it was not even checked by the VAR and our second goal was remarkably, for whatever reason, disallowed.

"We have all seen the shirt pulled back [by Alexis Mac Allister] and not even a VAR check. Life is unfair, normal life is unfair, so why is there no fairness in sports?

Egypt forward Zico, added: "The referee was really unfair. The injustice was clear. There's been an unfairness right from the start of the match."

-BBC