Analysis of Football Match Refereeing

Oh, hello, Captain Farouk,

and my greetings to Captain Magdy Tolba and Captain Tamer Begato. Welcome, Captain.

Good evening, Captain Mohamed. Welcome, Captain. Captain, as… as…

of course, as one of the Egyptian people, honestly, I say hard luck to you, and…

I mean, of course, we hoped Egypt would continue,

based on the great effort that is honestly being made and has been made,

and bad luck happened in the end with the goals,

but some believe that the match referee was honestly very biased against Egypt.

I mean, from the match, from analyzing the cases that might have been controversial,

how do you see things going?

Look, Captain Farouk, in the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

of course, our hopes after 2- 0 were that the match was almost over,

and conceding three goals in a quarter of an hour is what caused the shock,

but let's speak refereeing- wise and logically.

The referee, this same referee with whom we were leading 2- 0 until the 80th

minute… Okay. The first goal scored by Ziko, yes, okay, during the attacking phase,

or what is called the APP, there was a foul committed by Marwan Attia against the

Argentina forward, and referring to VAR or referring to VAR in this case,

the referee was right to do so. Yes, but Captain,

I'm discussing this with you because we've been following the World Cup,

and there are challenges where the referees...

I mean, it's very clear they have instructions to let some challenges slide.

Is this one of those challenges that you've surely followed, Captain?

Just like they let it slide before, they let it slide.

Let's be clear that in a case like this,

as long as VAR summoned the referee and showed him the footage, explaining it...

the referee cannot go back and say," I saw this, but I won't call it."

So VAR summoned the referee...

I mean, was it a pull or a stamp on the foot, Captain? No, there was a stamp.

Yes, he's talking about pulling...

he's talking about pulling, Captain.

Just to link this case with the one I was asked about, Captain Mohamed Salah's case.

Yes, go ahead, Captain. Yes, exactly, go ahead.

Here, at the moment of the stomp,

the ball was in the possession of the Argentina attacker.

And therefore, he still had the ball,

and it was still in his possession.

Now, let's go back to Mohamed Salah's play that came after, and why when he

scored the third goal from it, the referee didn't refer to VAR?

Because the Argentina defender

inside the 18- yard box was able to steal the ball from Captain Mohamed Salah,

and the ball was behind him.

What happened after that was a natural

contact that does not warrant calling VAR. Ah, mm- hmm.

It's just out of shock that we keep saying,' Why did you call it here,

and why didn't you call it there?' But that's not how it works.

Meaning, every case is different.

The difference with the Argentina case is that the ball remained in the attacker's

possession after the stomp,

Before the contact occurred between Mohamed Salah and the Argentina defender,

the ball had already gone behind Captain Mohamed Salah;

it had already been taken from him.

So, that is a natural contact. Yes.

But for our ball, or rather, our goal that was disallowed,

the ball was in the possession of the Argentine player and there was a stamp on the

player's foot. There was a stamp on the foot, and this is what VAR,

in the on- field review,

showed the referee several times— the stamp.

Not the pulling,

because there was also pulling there, Captain.

No, but the stamp is clearer.

The stamp is clearer in this case.

And when VAR was replaying it for him,

they focused heavily on the stamp.

They showed it to him once from a still image, the point of contact, as we say,

and they showed it to him in real- time and in slow motion several times.

So, disallowing the goal here was a correct decision after consulting VAR.

There was no need at all for him to go to VAR for an on- field review,

or as we say, to consult VAR after Argentina's third goal.

I mean, with this same referee, we were winning 2- 0 until the

80th minute. What about another play, Captain?

I think Marmoush was being pulled inside the box? Hamdi Fathy, Hamdi Fathy.

Ah, Hamdi Fathi. Hamdi Fathi, and his shirt was torn.

Hamdi Fathi, yes, there is a pull,

but it's an inconsequential pull. What do you mean, Captain?

What does an" inconsequential pull" mean? Yes, an inconsequential pull.

And it didn't affect the player's ability to score a goal or to keep possession

of the ball. And in FIFA, they don't pay attention to these contacts or to this

inconsequential pulling.

We've seen it happen several times.

And yesterday, it happened in the Spain vs.

Portugal match with Ronaldo on one of the set pieces,

and the referee didn't pay attention to it.

Mhm, mhm. Okay, in general,

Captain, I mean, you also…

please go ahead, Captain, go ahead.

And how is the refereeing in this tournament?

As a football player, and you know,

I mean, a referee can restrict one

team over another in football on the pitch through certain fouls,

through certain areas in awarding fouls.

Do you think today's match referee did that or not, Captain? In all honesty.

No, he didn't do that.

He didn't do that because he could have, in several plays,