Former South African national team forward Benny McCarthy and a Kenyan manager expressed strong dissatisfaction with the quality of refereeing during the Egypt versus Argentina match in the Round of 16 on Tuesday.
Outrage over VAR decisions
McCarthy hinted that the referee made decisions favoring Argentina. The most striking example was the disallowance of Egypt's second goal after a review by the VAR system.
This second Egyptian goal was annulled due to a foul committed before the counterattack that led to the scored goal. However, match referee François Létesse decided to overturn the goal after reviewing the VAR footage, which occurred under pressure from Argentine players.
Inconsistent officiating
The situation repeated in the last ten minutes of the game. Argentina committed a foul, won the ball, and scored. Nevertheless, Létesse did not consult VAR this time. The broadcast simply continued with the goal, whereas in the case of Argentina, the foul was shown and reviewed for at least two minutes before the decision to disallow the goal was made.
McCarthy stated: 'This is the first time I have seen a team score legitimate goals, and then the opponent demands that the referee check a foul during the attack that never happened. There is nothing in it. But the referee goes to VAR because Messi and the Argentine players asked for it.'
Teammate's comments
Quinton Fortune, McCarthy's former teammate and Manchester United player, called what happened a disgrace to football while commenting on Sporty TV. He noted: 'What are we doing now? We should sit here and lie, making things up. It is obvious and shameful. It was cruel.'
Fortune added that Egypt scored a completely fair goal, and then they had to go back to VAR for corners to disallow that goal. In Argentina's case, there were no corners. He concluded: 'We all want Messi to play well and for the best team to win the tournament, but not like this.'
