Egypt coach furious: 'We were simply wronged'

Egypt's national football team coach, Hossam Hassan, was furious following his team's dramatic 3-2 defeat to Argentina in the World Cup Round of 16, asserting that his side was robbed of a chance to advance.

Argentina secured their place in the quarterfinals after coming back from a 2-0 deficit. Egypt had taken a commanding lead with a quarter of the match remaining. However, goals from Cristian Romero, Lionel Messi, and Enzo Fernández sealed the victory for the reigning world champions.

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I am not going to try to soften this by talking about bad luck. We were simply wronged today. We gave everything in this game and were denied.

Hassan's anger stemmed from several key decisions. An Egyptian goal scored by Mostafa Zico in the 58th minute was disallowed after a VAR review for a foul earlier in the play. Although Zico scored again nine minutes later, and this goal stood, Hassan felt his team was unjustly treated.

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What we saw today was neither respect nor fairness. We were very disappointed with how we were treated.

"We were simply wronged today. We gave everything in this game and were denied," Hassan stated at a heated post-match press conference. He specifically pointed to a potential penalty incident in the build-up to Argentina's winning goal, where he believed Alexis Mac Allister fouled Hamdy Fathy inside the box. "Everyone saw that there was a pull on the jersey in the penalty area without it being reviewed. It is difficult to accept such things."

Hassan concluded that the match lacked respect and fairness. He expressed such deep disappointment with the officiating that he has no desire to watch further games in the tournament.

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We definitely should have had a penalty and the incident wasn't even reviewed by VAR. The goal we scored that was disallowed was very controversial and then everyone saw that there was a pull on the jersey in the penalty area without it being reviewed. It is difficult to accept such things.