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Lionel Messi’s Argentina team has made a sensational comeback against Egypt and made it to the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2026. Now he faces the challenge of Switzerland. Against Egypt, Argentina was trailing by 2 goals till the 79th minute. There were 11 minutes left in regulation time and Argentina’s fans were in despair. He had accepted that the journey of his favorite team was going to end in the Round of 16.

Egypt was on the threshold of history. This African country, which was playing the knockout match of the FIFA World Cup for the first time, seemed to be overpowering Argentina till now but after this the story changed. Cristian Romero scored the first goal for Argentina in the 79th minute to reduce the lead and then Lionel Messi showed his miracle and equalized for his team in the 83rd minute. The score was tied at 2-2 and the Egyptian team, which was playing openly till now, started getting nervous.

Argentina took advantage of this and Enzo Fernandes scored a goal in stoppage time to eliminate Egypt from the World Cup. With this goal, the fans of the defending champion team went into celebration while the fans of Egypt got moist in their eyes. As soon as the last whistle sounded, the Egyptian players fell on the ground. He couldn’t believe how such a big opportunity had passed him by.

Egyptian team made allegations of bias

The Egypt team was dejected and extremely angry after their heart-breaking defeat at the hands of Argentina. One, his goal was canceled by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR). In the last minutes, before Argentina scored the third goal, Egypt captain Mohammed Salah was fouled but the referee ignored it. Had it been considered a foul, Egypt could have received a penalty.

Egypt’s goal was canceled out when it was leading 1-0. In the build-up to the disallowed goal, midfielder Marwan Attiya stepped on Lisandro Martínez’s foot, preventing Egypt from doubling their lead. Egypt was also very upset that the foul committed against them was not considered and the game was asked to continue and Argentina won the match by scoring a decisive goal. After the match, Egypt’s coach said that football’s world governing body i.e. FIFA wants Messi not to be out. He also raised questions on fairness.

Is FIFA supporting Argentina?

Egypt coach Hossam Hassan said the manner in which the events unfolded raised serious questions about credibility. Argentina got support at every level. Hossam Hasan said, ‘There are many things on which questions can be raised, inside and outside the field. There are negative aspects everywhere. It’s all a question of credibility, the way the incidents happened have raised serious questions about credibility. Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion team in the tournament. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the race.

Hossam Hassan further said, ‘The world champion team got support at every level. It seems there was pressure from Argentina regarding this result. We have neither seen respect nor fair play. Our penalty was ruled out, not even checked by VAR, and our second goal, for some unknown reason, was surprisingly disallowed. We all saw Alexis McAllister pull his shirt back and VAR didn’t even check it. Normal life is unfair but why unfair in sports?

Egyptian forward Zico also said that the referee’s behavior was wrong. Injustice was done to his team. Zico said, ‘The referee’s behavior was extremely inappropriate. Clearly injustice was done. Injustice was happening right from the beginning of the match.

Even before this, allegations were made against Argentina

This is not the first time in this World Cup that Argentina team is being accused of having the support of FIFA. Earlier, questions were raised about the credibility of the game in their round of 32 match against Cape Verde. In this match, Cape Verde, a country with a population of 5 lakh, had defeated Argentina. Messi’s team needed 2 hours of hard work and an own goal to defeat him. Argentina’s 3–2 win was said to be unfair to Cape Verde. Fans believed that Cape Verde should have got a free-kick in the 98th minute of the match but it was not given.

Apart from this, FIFA is being accused of giving an easy draw to Argentina. Critics say that Argentina team will not face any big team till the semi-finals, if this is not bias then what is it?