Egypt had the defending champion Argentina on the brink of elimination. In the end, however, Mohamed Salah and his teammates stood on the field with blank expressions. Meanwhile, the coach lashed out at the officiating crew—and at the kickoff time in Atlanta.
“We have to dream. Sometimes dreams come true.” These were the words spoken by Mohamed Zidan—a 44-time national team forward (11 goals) and former Bundesliga pro (including stints with Dortmund and Mainz)—ahead of Egypt’s World Cup round of 16 match. After more than 100 minutes of play, including stoppage time, in the match against reigning champion Argentina, it was clear: The “Pharaohs” had evidently followed this very credo to the letter and had pushed the Albiceleste to the brink of elimination.
In the end, however, even some top saves by goalkeeper Mostafa Shoubeir—who had even stopped a weak penalty kick by Lionel Messi—and a 2-0 lead weren’t enough. The Egyptians would completely lose control of the game starting in the 79th minute. What made it doubly bitter: Never before had a team at a World Cup lost a 2-0 lead from that point on within regulation time—including stoppage time—without going into extra time. A sad record for the North Africans.
Brady’s Tweet and Salah’s Grief
This somber note prompted Tom Brady to weigh in immediately after the final whistle. In a tweet posted on X, the legendary NFL quarterback recalled the year 2017, when—wearing the New England Patriots jersey—he staged a spectacular comeback against the Atlanta Falcons in what was then a highly dramatic Super Bowl, despite trailing 3:28. The playmaker had “only” clinched that victory—one of his seven American football titles—in overtime back then—and so he now wrote, referring to the Argentines’ comeback: “That might even top the 28–3.”
A small, additional bitter pill for Egypt to swallow. This was especially true for star player Mohamed Salah, who had initially invested a great deal alongside his teammates in the quest for an upset in this Round of 16 match and had come close to pulling off the coup. In the end, however, the striker—whose future in club soccer remains uncertain following his emotional farewell from Liverpool FC—stood dejected on the field in Atlanta.
Certainly also because this could have been the Egyptian soccer hero’s final World Cup appearance. The 34-year-old said nothing about this immediately after the furious match that ended without a happy ending; rather, according to his teammates, the veteran gathered the team right in the locker room to express his pride in their performance. A great gesture born of emotion.
“They obviously wanted Messi to stay in the tournament”
Meanwhile, his coach, Hossam Hassan, directed his emotions—alongside his pride in his players—toward the FIFA officiating crew led by head referee Francois Letexier—and how! The national team coach had spotted what he saw as several incorrect calls against his team—and, like many others, would have liked to see a penalty kick awarded immediately before the decisive 2–3 goal by Enzo Fernandez in the second minute of stoppage time, after Alexis Mac Allister pulled the jersey of the falling Egyptian player Hamdy Fathy. Instead, however, the goal stood, making the final score 3–2.
“A penalty for us wasn’t even reviewed by VAR,” the 59-year-old emphasized in a post-match interview and later at the press conference. “I believe the implications of this result go far beyond the loss itself, because we experienced neither respect nor fair play. It seemed as though the Argentine side had put pressure on the referee. We were better than the world champions, but the result was influenced by internal and external factors—Argentina received support at every level.”
Incidentally, the VAR hadn’t specifically focused on the jersey-pulling incident during the mandatory goal review and hadn’t shown it to referee Letexier on the screens in the review area. This also came as a surprise to Lutz Wagner, who had identified a foul in his analysis for ARD: “Very unwise behavior… Argentina got very lucky there.”
And Patrick Ittrich, who retired as an active referee after the most recent Bundesliga season, echoed this sentiment on MagentaTV: In his view, the VAR presumably didn’t consider the foul worthy of intervention—“I can’t explain it any other way.” Ittrich also believed he had noticed: “All the controversial decisions were made against Egypt. The negative emotions that come out of this are understandable.”
Egypt’s coach Hassan still had plenty of those emotions: “We deserved the win. Everyone saw that the jersey was pulled. But they obviously wanted Messi to stay in the game. Life is unfair, the world is unfair, but why is there no fairness in soccer, in sports? We were treated unfairly. I’d love to put it nicely and say, ‘Tough luck.’ But we were treated unfairly—that was an injustice.” For him, it started with the kickoff time at 12 noon local time: “Anyone who schedules a game for 12 noon has never played soccer. Are the players supposed to have lunch at 7:30 a.m.?”
His final conclusion: “Many things are questionable—on the field and off it. That undermines credibility.” That’s why he’s had enough of this 2026 World Cup: “Once I’m done here, I won’t watch a single game of this tournament anymore.”
