RIYADH, July 8, 2026 (Arab News) – Arab fans reviled French referee Francois Letexier as the most hated man in football on Tuesday after his bizarre decisions cost Egypt the historic opportunity to knock champions Argentina out of the World Cup.

Mo Salah’s heroes came within an agonizing seven minutes of causing the biggest upset in football history, but were denied by the man with the whistle.

With Egypt already 1-0 up, Letexier ruled out a second Egyptian goal because of what he said was a foul minutes before, all the way back on Egypt’s touchline.

Letexier awarded every 50-50 decision to Argentina, and capped it by denying Egypt a clear penalty for a foul on Salah by Alexis Mac Allister seconds before Argentina raced up to the other end and scored their decisive third goal.

Egypt erupted in fury. Hamdi Fathy, Mostafa Shobeir and head coach Hossam Hassan were all shown yellow cards, and assistant coach Mohamed Abdel Wahed was shown red.

Egyptian fans were also enraged. Vash said on social media: “Egypt were absolutely robbed. The referee didn’t even VAR check this and allowed the Argentina goal, but Egypt were disallowed a goal because the referee VAR checked a foul on Argentina.

Another fan, Nuel, said: “The referee keeps helping Lionel Messi and Argentina.”

It was a dream start for the Pharaohs. Having started the match in fearless fashion by taking the game to Argentina, Egypt broke the deadlock on 111 minutes when their first corner of the match was worked back to Marwan Attia, whose pinpoint cross was powered past Eli Martinez by Yasser Ibrahim.

The joy looked like it might be short lived when Nicolas Tagliafico drew a foul in the penalty area to give Argentina the opportunity to level the match from the spot five minutes later. Incredibly, Messi missed his second penalty effort of the 2026 World Cup, Egypt’s keeper Mostafa Shobeir pulling off one of the saves of his life to keep the lead intact.

The hydration break gave Egypt the chance to take it all in, but Argentina almost equalized after the restart when the excellent Shobeir was equal to Alexis Mac Allister’s close-range header.

On the half-hour mark Messi stuck Shobeir’s right-hand post from a freekick as Argentina raised the tempo. Eight minutes later the Egyptian stopper’s night hit new heights when he made a spectacular save from a close-range Julian Alvarez effort.

As expected, the second half started with Argentina on the attack and just like in the first period, Egypt continued to look dangerous on the break. After 56 minutes, a brilliant run by Haissem Hassan from his own half ended with a Salah pass putting Zico through to finish brilliantly past Martinez. Heartbreakingly for Egypt, it was ruled out for an earlier foul.

Argentina’s reprieve lasted 10 minutes. And this time, Zico’s blasted finish from Hassan’s cross stood. Egypt were in dreamland now, with Messi and Argentina in a panic as the finish line loomed.

After 76, the substitute Trezeguet struck the side netting. Minutes later, Cristian Romero’s header from Messi’s cross halved the deficit and Argentina now had a lifeline they barely deserved.

There was an inevitability to the equalizer and to the identity of its scorer. Substitute Lautaro Martinez touched the ball back to Messi inside the Egypt penalty box on 83 minutes and the Argentine captain’s vicious strike was palmed onto the bar and past the goal-line by Shobeir. In almost the blink of an eye, Egypt’s hard-earned two-goal lead had disappeared.

To their credit, Egypt kept going forward. It would bring about their downfall.

Salah was disposed in the Argentina penalty area in the first minute of stoppage time, and from the resulting counter-attack, Enzo Fernandez brilliantly headed Lautaro Martinez’s cross beyond a shell-shocked Shobeir.

Argentina had turned around a a two-goal deficit in the World Cup for the first time in their history. There would be no coming back for Egypt.