ATLANTA: Egypt manager Hossam Hassan has furiously accused football’s governing body FIFA of rigging the World Cup following a string of highly controversial refereeing decisions that went against his team during Argentina’s dramatic late comeback victory in Atlanta on Tuesday. The reigning champions, who were trailing 2-0 with just 12 minutes of regulation time plus stoppage time remaining, looked destined for an early exit from the tournament. However, late strikes from Cristian Romero and Lionel Messi, followed by a stoppage-time winner from Enzo Fernandez, secured a remarkable 3-2 comeback for Argentina.
Pandemonium broke out along the touchline in the 93rd minute when Fernandez’s game-winning header hit the back of the net, prompting furious Egypt staff members to confront French referee Francois Letexier. The heated touchline argument resulted in Egypt’s goalkeeper coach Saafan El-Sagheer being shown a red card, while head coach Hassan had to be physically restrained and dragged away from a fiery confrontation with the match official. The Pharaohs were particularly enraged that neither the referee nor the VAR awarded Egypt a crucial penalty moments before Argentina’s winning goal, when star forward Mohamed Salah was brought down inside the box after having his foot clipped by Julian Alvarez.
The penalty call was not the only point of friction; earlier in the second half, Egypt had a potential goal chalked off by VAR due to an alleged foul in the build-up play. Throughout the intense physical encounter, several key refereeing decisions favored Argentina, who have now successfully progressed to the quarter-finals in their quest to defend their World Cup crown in North America. Speaking in his post-match press conference, an incandescent Hassan could not contain his outrage, openly accusing FIFA of orchestrating unfair decisions to ensure all-time great Lionel Messi remains in the flagship competition purely for marketing and commercial reasons.
ലഘു വിവരണം അറ്റ്ലാന്റയിൽ നടന്ന ലോകകപ്പ് പോരാട്ടത്തിൽ അർജന്റീനയോട് 3-2 ന് തോറ്റതിന് പിന്നാലെ ഫിഫയ്ക്കെതിരെ രൂക്ഷവിമർശനവുമായി ഈജിപ്ഷ്യൻ പരിശീലകൻ ഹൊസാം ഹസ്സൻ. 2-0 ന് മുന്നിലായിരുന്ന ഈജിപ്തിനെതിരെ അവസാന മിനിറ്റുകളിൽ അർജന്റീന മൂന്ന് ഗോളുകൾ അടിച്ച് ജയിക്കുകയായിരുന്നു. മുഹമ്മദ് സലാഹിനെ പെനാൽറ്റി ബോക്സിൽ വീഴ്ത്തിയതിന് വിഎആർ പെനാൽറ്റി അനുവദിക്കാത്തതിൽ പ്രതിഷേധിച്ച ഗോൾകീപ്പർ കോച്ചിന് ചുവപ്പ് കാർഡ് ലഭിച്ചു. ലയണൽ മെസ്സിയെ ടൂർണമെന്റിൽ നിലനിർത്താൻ മാർക്കറ്റിംഗ് ലക്ഷ്യങ്ങളോടെ ഫിഫ അട്ടിമറി നടത്തുകയാണെന്ന് ഹസ്സൻ ആരോപിച്ചു.
(With inputs from Dailymail)
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