Egypt manager Hossam Hassan has furiously accused FIFA of rigging the World Cup after a string of controversial refereeing decisions went against his side during Argentina's dramatic late comeback in Atlanta on Tuesday. Argentina, who were 2-0 down with 12 minutes to play plus stoppage time, looked destined to exit the tournament before late goals from Cristian Romero, Lionel Messi and Enzo Fernandez resulted in a remarkable 3-2 comeback victory. When Fernandez's game-winning header rippled the net in the 93rd minute, chaos broke out on the touchline as Egypt's furious staff remonstrated with referee Francois Letexier, leading to goalkeeper coach Saafan El-Sagheer being shown a red card and manager Hassan being dragged away from a confrontation with the official. The Pharaohs were furious that the referee - and also VAR - had not awarded Egypt a penalty moments before Argentina's winner, as Mohamed Salah was brought down inside the box after having his foot clipped by Julian Alvarez. Earlier in the second half, Egypt themselves had a goal disallowed by VAR due to a foul in the build-up. Throughout the game, a string of decisions went in favour of Argentina, who have now progressed to the quarter-finals as they bid to retain their crown in North America. After the match, Hassan could not contain his outrage and furiously accused world football's governing body FIFA of rigging the tournament so that all-time great Messi could remain in the competition for 'marketing reasons'. 'We were better, but football is unfair,' the heartbroken coach said in his post-match interview. 'It could be a matter of marketing, they could want to make a World Cup with the champion of the last World Cup, they want Messi to exist (in the tournament). 'I thank my players very much. To all the Egyptians, the Arabs, the Africans, you can work hard, it's what you have to do, but sometimes there are other factors that make you struggle. 'I wish we could be happier with the loss, but with a severe loss like today I say to them (my players) be upset. We wish we could be happier. Thank God for everything but football is different from what happens in the stadium when we are playing against the world champions.' 'There is support from all directions for the world champions. Support and marketing.' He added later: 'Why isn't there any fairness in sport? In football? I do not want to try to put it nicely here with beautiful wording. We have been treated unfairly today. We have suffered injustice.' Hassan went on to claim that the result was influenced by 'internal' and 'external' factors and that Egypt had objected to the selection of Letexier as referee. Egypt were furious at having a goal disallowed when leading 1-0 during the game, and later showed similar expressions of anger and disbelief after Salah was penalised for a soft foul that would otherwise have seen him charge through on goal for a one-on-one opportunity. As the touchline bust-up at the end of the game broke out following Fernandez's winner, Hassan made a gesture that is typically used to draw a referee's attention to an accusation of racism, holding his hands aloft in an X shape. It is unclear if Hassan was alleging a specific incident had occurred or whether he was protesting more generally against injustice and the controversial decisions that had gone in favour of Argentina. #argentina #egypt #fifaworldcup2026 #rigged #Soccer - @dailymailsportusa