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It’s hard to say for sure because of the wizardry involved. But Egyptian forward Haissem Hassan took what looked like eight touches of the ball on every part of his left foot imaginable, dancing in between and around two Argentine defenders, before ever putting it on his right. One touch on that right foot, followed by a final move from his left, and the Egyptian forward had done most of the legwork for what will go down as one of the most memorable moments of the 2026 World Cup.

The crowd where I was, outside a jam-packed cafe in New York’s Little Egypt, was by this point in the midst of a crescendo that peaked a few seconds later: three dribbles and a pass from Egyptian icon Mohamed Salah, followed by a glorious goal by Mostafa Zico.

Utter joy broke out in the cafe. Egypt was beating Lionel Messi’s Argentina 2-0, and everyone at the cafe knew we would remember where we were when we saw Zico’s shot hit the back of the net.

And we still will — but not for the reasons we thought. A video review ruled out the goal because of a foul committed in its buildup. And though Zico did later score a goal that wasn’t disallowed, Argentina quickly scored three and won the match.

In the space of about half an hour, the cafe went from feeling like a party to a funeral. A dramatic loss in the dying minutes of a game would be devastating for any fan base. But when it happens in the context of dubious refereeing decisions, in a tournament run by a famously corrupt organization, the despair can take on an extra edge.

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Allegations of Rigging

The words “rigged” and “corruption” filled Little Egypt’s Steinway Street after the match and were all over social media feeds as well. “It needs to be a fair game, and today I don’t think it was a fair game. It’s really a shame on FIFA … something doesn’t feel right,” said Mohamed Bakar, who drove from Pennsylvania to New York just to watch the game among Egypt’s fans on Steinway.

Members of the Egyptian team did not hold back either.

“The referee was not fair. The injustice was clear. There’s been an unfairness right from the start of the match. A 2-0 lead is not enough to beat Argentina. It’s clear that the tournament has been fixed,” said an emotional Zico in a post-match interview.

Coach Hossam Hassan felt similarly. “The result was influenced by internal factors on the pitch and external factors off it,” he said. “Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running.”

To be clear, there is no evidence that definitively supports those claims. But the people making the allegations point to a pattern of decisions that seem to have favored the defending champions, and in the case of this match, come at Egypt’s expense. The focal point of the controversy was the foul committed ahead of Zico’s goal that happened about 20 seconds earlier, and roughly 100 yards away — factors that usually mean they are no longer relevant. And many point out that when similar incidents seemed to occur before Argentina’s goals — both during the Egypt match, and earlier in the tournament — the same decision was not made.

FIFA has repeatedly gotten into bed with authoritarian leaders while prioritizing commercial aspirations over human rights.

FIFA has repeatedly gotten into bed with authoritarian leaders while prioritizing commercial aspirations over human rights.

As Stefan Szymanski, my co-host on “The Soccernomics Podcast” said in our most recent episode, there is a bias that exists because of the fact that Messi is the best player in the world, and perhaps in the history of the sport. “It will always be the case that the best players will get asymmetric treatment,” Szymanski said. “They’re going to get better treated than the rest because they’re the moneymakers…. Even just the selection of the referee is something that a player like Messi can influence, and this is kind of........

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