The coach of Egypt’s national team seemed to have accused Argentina star Lionel Messi of “racist” smack talk during Tuesday’s game.
Argentina achieved one of the most amazing come-from-behind finishes in World Cup history by beating Egypt 3-2 with a three-goal drive in the last half of the game. But critics accused the officials of perpetrating a series of bad calls that they say was aimed at helping Argentina mount their comeback, according to Times Now News.
At one point during the game, the two teams confronted each other with some obvious smack talk going on between them and Lionel Messi himself appeared to approach Egypt’s coach with some jawing. In response, coach Hossam Hassan was seen making the FIFA-approved hand gesture to alert officials to “racist abuse.”
As Messi spoke, Hassan crossed his arms above his head in the “X” gesture, apparently signifying that he felt Messi was committing racist abuse. Some of the coaching staff also followed the Argentinian players out onto the field in a threatening manner.
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There was no audio of the confrontation, and no one has come forward to report what Messi might have said to the Egyptian coach. Coach Hassan has also not made any formal complaint to FIFA over the incident, either. So, it seems we may never know what the coach felt was racist abuse.
Still, Hassan did blast the referees, calling their officiating “not fair.”
“What is happening today is not fair. We could have been up 3-1, but it turned into 2-2,” Hassan said after the game.
“I don’t know, maybe the whole thing has become about marketing. Meaning, they might want to shape the World Cup, they want to keep the previous World Cup champion present, they want to keep Messi in it,” Hassan added.
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