Mostafa Ziko, an Egypt national team player, spoke as soon as the match that knocked them out of the World Cup ended, and his words sparked controversy.
“Congratulations to Argentina on the World Cup; the tournament was fixed, they did not need anything else. the referee was unfair”, he said to an Egyptian journalist immediately after the match ended.
According to him, his team was clearly dominating 2-0 when the referee started to tip the balance: a legitimate goal disallowed for a “marginal” foul, calls that only harmed his national team, and a penalty in the opposing box completely ignored.
“We played fantastically against the current world champion. But the referee, François Letexier, was clearly biased from the very first moment of the match. He constantly tried to stop us and wanted to silence us on the field”, he concluded.