FIFA responds after people say the World Cup is ‘fixed’ for Argentina
FIFA has responded to claims about Argentina’s round of 16 win over Egypt, calling them “unfounded.”
The current world champions made a stunning comeback in Atlanta, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win with late goals from Cristian Romero, Lionel Messi, and Enzo Fernandez. However, the match sparked controversy, with Egypt’s bench upset about several key decisions that didn’t go their way.
The Egyptian Football Association reacted strongly, asking FIFA to remove the referee and his team from the World Cup after claiming they made serious mistakes and refused to review some footage. One moment that stood out was when Mostafa Ziko had a goal disallowed due to a foul on Argentina’s Lisandro Martinez. Egypt also felt their star player, Mo Salah, was fouled before Fernandez’s last-minute winning goal.
This led to rumors of a conspiracy to help Argentina win the tournament for the fourth time.
FIFA’s Chief Refereeing Officer, Pierluigi Collina, spoke out against these claims, calling them “unfounded” and stressing that no one should question the integrity of the match officials. In an interview, he said discussions about decisions are normal, but false accusations can lead to threats against referees and their families, which is unacceptable.
Collina also said that FIFA referees work independently and honestly, showing full support from FIFA President Gianni Infantino. He explained some of the controversial moments from the match, describing how the VAR system checks for fouls during the build-up to goals and why the right calls were made.
For example, VAR spotted a foul when Egypt’s Marwan Attia stepped on Lisandro Martinez’s foot, which led to the disallowed goal. On the other hand, the contact between Salah and Alvarez was judged as normal football contact, so no foul was called.
Collina admitted that some decisions can be subjective but said the rules have been applied fairly throughout the tournament.
Next up, Argentina will play Switzerland in the quarterfinal on Sunday. The winner will face England or Norway in the semifinals on Wednesday, 15 July.