Zohran Mamdani claims ‘Egypt were robbed’ in Argentina World Cup defeat

New York mayor Zohran Mamdani has told people exactly what he thought about Argentina’s World Cup victory over Egypt.

It looked like a huge upset could be on the cards, with the defending champions 2-0 down with little more than 10 minutes of the game remaining, after Lionel Messi had missed a penalty earlier in the match.

However, a staggering late comeback saw them win 3-2 over the North African side to progress to the quarter finals.

Play our FREE match predictor and win £1k 

Egyptians left unhappy in Argentina defeat by refereeing decisions

The Egyptians were left furious after some refereeing decisions went against them in the game that could have completely changed the way the match played out.

A disallowed goal earlier in the match, and a potential foul on Mo Salah in the build-up to Argentina’s winner were the greatest injustices, in their eyes, leading to some Egypt players to say that the game was “fixed”.

Striker Mostafa Zico said after the game: “There’s been an unfairness, right from the start of the match. It is clear that this tournament has been fixed.”

While Mamdani didn’t necessarily go that far, he did seem to side with the Egyptians’ thoughts on the referee’s decisions that went against them.

In an off-hand comment during a speech about transport, the mayor said New Yorkers could spend more time “agreeing with your friends that Egypt were robbed yesterday” now that there are extra bus lanes in the city.

He then reiterated his suggestion later on at the same speech saying: “With my extra six minutes [gained from faster public transport] I would probably just watch the replays of Egypt getting robbed again and again.”

FIFA has been quick to refute the suggestions made by the Egyptian team that anything had been “fixed”.

FIFA’s chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina has backed referee Francois Letexier and the standard of refereeing throughout the whole tournament, saying that Egypt’s allegations are “unfounded”.

In an interview at the end of the Round of 16 matches, he said: “Constructive discussion about decisions will always be part of football.

“But unfounded allegations have no place in our sport. Nobody can question the integrity of the FIFA World Cup match officials. When this happens, it may provoke reactions that lead to threats against them and their families. This is not right.”