FIFA's Disciplinary Committee has suspended Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan for three matches and forward Mostafa Zico for five, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) said on Monday, after the pair criticised the refereeing in their World Cup round-of-16 defeat to Argentina. Ibrahim Hassan, twin brother of the head coach and manager of the national team, was also given a three-match ban.
The EFA said it had asked FIFA's Disciplinary Committee for the "detailed reasons and grounds for the decisions" and expects to appeal once it has reviewed the legal basis of the sanctions.
The bans mean Hossam Hassan and Ibrahim Hassan could miss Egypt's upcoming matches against Malawi in November's Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, as well as the first game of the March international window. Zico, meanwhile, will be unable to play until June.
The case stems from the July 6 match in Atlanta, where Egypt led 2-0 before Argentina fought back to win the round-of-16 tie. The African side were furious over a string of contentious calls, including a goal ruled out early in the second half and the dismissal of a member of the coaching staff after Argentina's winning goal.
Hossam Hassan said his team had been "robbed" of a quarter-final place after Argentina's late comeback. "I don't want to soften it and call it bad luck. Today we were treated unfairly; we had to endure injustice," he told a post-match news conference.
With Egypt leading 1-0, a Zico goal was disallowed after the video assistant referee intervened and identified a prior foul on Lisandro Martinez. Zico then restored the two-goal cushion, putting Egypt within sight of their first quarter-final. But holders Argentina hit back through Cristian Romero before Lionel Messi — who had earlier had a penalty saved — levelled at 2-2 with his eighth goal of the tournament.
The controversy did not end there: in the build-up to Enzo Fernandez's goal, Egypt argued they should have been awarded a penalty for Alexis Mac Allister's shirt-pull on Hamdy Fathy. "We saw no respect or fair play. There was no respect or fair play," Hossam Hassan said, adding that a penalty appeal had not been reviewed by VAR and that a second goal had been chalked off in dubious circumstances.
FIFA referees committee chairman Pierluigi Collina has defended the officiating, saying such accusations can pose a threat to referees and their families.
