Cairo, July 8 (IANS) The Egyptian Football Federation (EFF) has reportedly approached the governing body FIFA, lodging a formal protest against the decisions of referee Francois Letexier after their team suffered a dramatic 3-2 defeat against the defending champions Argentina in Atlanta on Tuesday.

Egypt appeared close to a historic upset after taking a 2-0 lead, but Argentina produced a late comeback, with Lionel Messi playing a decisive role by scoring one goal and setting up another before Enzo Fernandez completed the turnaround in stoppage time.

However, the match left the Egyptian camp furious as several key decisions by the officials went against the team, including a disallowed goal following a VAR review and a penalty appeal that was not reviewed in the buildup to Argentina’s winning goal.

According to a report in Spanish publication Diario AS, the president of the Egypt Football Association, Hany Abo Rida, has lodged a formal complaint with FIFA against French referee Francois Letexier and his officiating team.

The report further states that the complaint calls for an investigation into what Egypt describes as controversial decisions that went against the Pharaohs. The federation has also officially requested that the French officiating team be removed from the remainder of the tournament because of what it considers crucial errors.

Earlier, the Egyptian coach Hasan also showed disappointment with several decisions. He also suggested that the outcome was affected by factors beyond what happened on the pitch, even implying that there was a desire for Messi and Argentina to remain in the tournament.

“We looked better than the reigning champion – better in everything -, but the result was influenced by internal factors on the pitch and external factors off it,” Hassan said. “Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running,” he said in the post-match press conference.

“In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champion received support at every level,” he added.

Hassan was particularly frustrated by the refereeing of French official Francois Letexier and pointed to two major incidents that he felt changed the course of the game: Egypt’s disallowed goal and a late penalty appeal involving Alexis Mac Allister before Fernandez’s decisive strike.

“We haven’t seen respect or fair play,” Hassan said. “A penalty was ruled out. It was not even checked by the VAR, and our second goal was remarkably, for whatever reason, disallowed. We have been treated unfairly, and it has been an injustice.”

–IANS

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