Hossam Hassan “boycotts the World Cup” and attacks the refereeing after the loss to Argentina | sports

Egypt coach Hossam Hassan launched a campaign against the arbitration and organization, considering that his country’s team was “unjustly done, and Argentina does not deserve to win” on Tuesday in Atlanta, in the 16-final of the North American Football World Cup.

Hassan said in a press conference after the match, which Egypt lost 2-3 after it was leading by two clean goals until the last ten minutes: “Today we were wronged by an act due to the events that took place in the match, and I am certain that whoever is programming the matches has never played football and has nothing to do with it. There are no matches played at twelve noon,” referring to the time they are held local time in Atlanta.

He added, “The timing of today’s match is supposed to be for walking, breathing air, or breakfast, but not for playing, so I object to the things that happened inside and outside the field. There was plenty of time to schedule the match in the afternoon or evening, as long as there were only two matches a day and several matches were held late in the evening.”

“I will boycott the World Cup”

He continued, “What happened is unfair and Argentina’s victory is undeserved. I promise everyone when I return to my country and my home that I will not watch the World Cup matches because there is no justice in them.”

He added, “I am proud of my country’s team. We are a national team with about 23 or 24 local players from the Egyptian League. We faced a team with players from all over the world and the most expensive players in the world. We worked hard and were better than the title holders. We were the best in everything, but the result had internal and external influences before the match.”

He highlighted, “It is clear that the pressure exerted by the Argentines on the referee (French François Le Texier) succeeded because they objected to the fact that he was French and his country’s national team was still in the competition. In life, whoever walks on the right path gets tired, and we were on the right path, tired, and harmed by external factors.”

He continued, “We had the right to win, and I do not want to say better luck to us next time, because we emerged with honor, but today’s result is far from the slogan raised by the International Federation, which is sportsmanship and respect.”

A goal by Mostafa Zico was disallowed when Egypt was leading 1-0 after the Video Assistant Referee intervened to discover a foul on Lisandro Martinez early in the attack. Hassan added, “We had a penalty kick that was canceled, and Argentina responded with an attack and scored a goal, and the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) did not do anything, unlike the second goal that we scored at the beginning of the second half, which was canceled in a strange way, and after returning to (VAR), which we did not get when we conceded.”

He stressed that “I am not convinced about the match. I am convinced about my team. I performed well, but not with what happened in the match. I will not be flattering and say that we played well and have a good team and Argentina achieved a good result. I will not say that. No, we will not put our head under the ground like an ostrich, but there is no credibility in what happened.”

“Like the sun in broad daylight”

The coach wondered, “Maybe they wanted to keep the world champion in the tournament? Maybe they wanted Messi to continue participating?” In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond technical aspects. The world champion received support at all levels.

The Egyptian coach previously confirmed these allegations immediately after the end of the match, as Hassan told BeIN Sports after the match, “We were better, but what happened is not fair. What happened with us is not fair. We should have gotten a penalty kick, and a goal was disallowed, and I don’t know why. After that, we could have led 3-1, but the score turned to 2-2.”

He added, “I don’t know. Could it be a marketing issue? Do they want the World Cup champion to continue in the tournament? Do they want (Lionel) Messi to continue?”

During the press conference, Hassan spoke again about the Palestinian issue, noting that he was talking “about humanitarian cases, about children who were killed, those whose hands and legs were cut off, and those who lost their sight. There are people who do not feel them, and the world of football, the media, sports, and the players are supposed to support a specific cause and a humanitarian cause.”

He continued, “The country where these children are dying is wearing the shirt of Argentina, Barcelona, ​​Manchester City, and Real Madrid, and they love you and love football, but you remain silent, and it is normal for you.”

For his part, striker Zico, whose goal was disallowed early in the second half, said: “We played a great match against the world champion. I don’t know what happened in the second half. There were strange things that everyone saw. It was as clear as the sun in broad daylight.”

As for goalkeeper Mustafa Schubert, he said: “We were very close to winning. It is the small details that make the difference in big matches. We are very sad, because the match was within our reach.”