Lionel Messi could not control his emotions as the final whistle sounded during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 16 clash between Argentina and Egypt. Argentina had just completed a sensational comeback to clinch the game 3-2 and in the process, they booked their spot in the quarterfinals. With just 15 minutes to go, Argentina trailed 0-2 but Messi scored one and created another as the defending champions completed a brilliant comeback. While one would expect the football to dominate headlines, it has been the controversy surrounding some refereeing decisions that has hogged all the limelight. Egypt were left fuming over a few on-field decisions and coach Hossam Hassan went on to claim that FIFA were biased towards Argentina. He even claimed that the tournament has been structured to favour Argentina and Messi.
Since then, the chatter has been growing with every minute with several fans as well as experts criticising the quality of refereeing during the game. Social media users have majorly claimed that FIFA want a star of Messi’s stature to stay in the competition in order to boost ticket sales while some experts pointed out a troubling pattern of past FIFA decisions.
So, is there any merit to the entire controversy or is it just another conspiracy theory impacting the ‘beautiful game’?
Let us start with the Egypt game. The African team stunned Argentina with an early goal and in the second half, they doubled their lead through Mostafa Ziko. However, that was not before what looked like a ‘goal of the tournament’ contender was disallowed following VAR intervention. Replays showed that Marwan Attia stepped on Lisandro Martinez’s foot in the build-up to the goal but Egypt argued that the action happened so far away from the Argentina goal that it hardly had any impact.
French referee Francois Letexier and his team came under the scanner once again when Egypt thought that they should have been allowed a penalty when Mohamed Salah felt he was tripped by Julian Alvarez. However, Egypt were not awarded any penalty and Enzo Fernandez‘s late winner ended up deciding the fate of the match as Egypt were eliminated.
However, this was not the first time when refereeing decisions caused a row during an Argentina match.
Messi ended up catching Algeria captain Aissa Mandi on the calf with his boot during their group stage match and many experts thought that it was a red card offence. However, to much surprise, Messi did not receive any booking. What made things worse was the fact that United States striker Folarin Balogun was sent off for a similar tackle against Bosnia and Herzegovina. That was just one incident but a deeper look at match statistics do reveal a slightly unsettling data.
Argentina have received a yellow card every 19.7 fouls in the FIFA World Cup 2026 till now. Only 3 teams in the tournament have a higher yellow card-to-foul ratio – Czechia (37), Tunisia (27) and Norway (24). Among these teams, just Norway are in the final 8 of the competition. In contrast, England have received a yellow card every 7.7 fouls.
The trend continues when we look at penalties awarded during the tournament. Argentina have been awarded 3 penalty kicks till now while Austria, Egypt, England and Switzerland have been awarded two. Even in 2022, Argentina were awarded a record-breaking 5 penalties as they went on to clinch the title with a win over France in the final.
The other factor that a number of fans have been pointing out is the relatively easy fixtures that Argentina have received in the tournament till now. Lionel Messi and Co topped their group before defeating Cape Verde and Egypt in the knockout stages. They will now take on Switzerland in the quarterfinals. While the fixtures look quite favourable on paper, the reason behind Argentina’s fixture list was mainly the draw as well as some results that ended up going Argentina’s way.
Argentina were destined to face Portugal in the quarterfinals if both teams topped their group and advanced in the knockout stages. However, Portugal finished second and ended up getting eliminated after losing to Spain in Round of 16.
Similarly, they could have faced World No. 11 Colombia in the quarterfinals but Switzerland pulled off a shocking win.
England also had their fair share of easy fixtures with DR Congo in Round of 32 and Mexico in Round of 16. However, they will now face Norway in quarterfinals and can end up taking on Argentina in the semifinals.
Even the fact that the quarter-final match between France and Morocco will have an all-Argentine referee team has raised eyebrows. Facundo Tello will be the on-field referee and both his assistants as well as the fourth official will also be from Argentina. While it is unfair to doubt the integrity of the officials, the optics of the appointment did not help.
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