Egypt forward Mustafa Zico has launched a furious attack on FIFA via Instagram following his side’s heartbreaking elimination from the World Cup.
The Egyptian winger directed his anger squarely at football’s governing body after a dramatic and deeply contentious Round of 16 defeat at the Atlanta Stadium.
Argentina, the defending champions, came from 2-0 down to beat Egypt 3-2 in a match that quickly descended into controversy on multiple fronts.
Zico posted a scathing message on Instagram that read: “You brought us all the way here just to cheat every other team? This tournament is fixed for your favorite and we all see it.”
He continued in the same post: “God is sufficient for us. Keep running your ‘favorite team’ World Cup. Nobody cares anymore because we already know who wins. Shame on FIFA.”
Egypt had looked set for one of the biggest upsets of the tournament after taking a 2-0 lead through a header from Yasser Ibrahim and a clinical 67th-minute strike from Zico himself.
A pivotal moment arrived when Zico netted what he believed to be a third goal for Egypt, only for a lengthy VAR review to see the effort ruled out for an alleged foul in the build-up.
Argentina then launched a stunning comeback, with Cristian Romero, Lionel Messi, and Enzo Fernandez all scoring in quick succession to turn the match on its head.
Egypt’s frustration deepened when the referee rejected two late penalty appeals before Fernandez struck the decisive winner deep into stoppage time.
The Egyptian camp also disputed the winning goal itself, claiming there were fouls in the build-up that should have prevented it from standing.
The Egyptian Football Association has since launched an official complaint against the French referee who officiated the match.
Adding further fuel to the fire, Egypt manager Hossam Hassan was shown a yellow card after making an “X” gesture with his arms on the touchline during the match.
The crossed-arms signal is FIFA’s own designated universal gesture for reporting alleged racist abuse during a match, intended to alert the referee to a discriminatory incident.
Under FIFA’s official anti-racism protocol, the gesture should activate a three-step process beginning with stopping play, then suspending the match, and ultimately abandoning it if the situation is not resolved.
Rather than following that procedure, the referee booked Hassan for the gesture and allowed play to continue, a decision that drew widespread criticism and intensified the outrage from the Egyptian camp after the final whistle.
