“Football theft in broad daylight.” This is how world stars reacted to Argentina’s victory over Egypt | sports

The Egyptian national team’s match against Argentina in the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup, which ended with the defending champion winning 3-2, sparked a wide wave of controversy, after a number of former football stars considered that some refereeing decisions, most notably the cancellation of Mustafa Zico’s goal, directly affected the outcome of the match.

Robbery in broad daylight

One of the most prominent critics was Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, who in his analysis of the match described what happened as “theft in broad daylight. The mouse technique is supposed to bring justice, not cause confusion. Today it seemed as if every important decision went to Argentina.”

Former France national team player Patrice Evra also criticized the decision to cancel Egypt’s second goal, saying: “They robbed Egypt of the second goal. The Egyptian player takes possession of the ball and scores a wonderful goal and then they wait two minutes to cancel it.”

For his part, England national team legend Alan Shearer attacked the course of the match, considering that what happened did not serve sporting justice. He said: “The Egypt-Argentina match is a play. If FIFA wants to dedicate the World Cup title to Messi, let it give it to him and let the rest of the players go to their homes.”

In turn, Manchester United legend Paul Scholes described the match as one of the worst refereeing administrations he had seen, stressing: “The biggest football theft I have ever seen, from the beginning of the match until its end, not a single arbitration decision was made in favor of Egypt.”

As for Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher, during the match analysis, he expressed his astonishment at the way the video referees handled the shot, and said: “If that shot had occurred in the English or Spanish league, the video would not have been returned, and if it had been returned, it would not have been counted as an error.”

In his statements after the match, former Manchester United star Gary Neville concluded the series of criticism, pointing out the existence of duplicity in dealing with arbitration cases, saying: “If Zico scored a goal for Argentina, it would most likely not be cancelled.”

These statements sparked debate across the media and social media platforms, in light of the great controversy that accompanied the arbitration decisions during the confrontation.