FIFA World Cup 2026: Coach floats Messi conspiracy theory after astonishing comeback vs Egypt

Lionel Messi was in tears as Argentina mounted a huge comeback, while Egypt’s coach said the officials did everything in their power to keep the tournament’s top goalscorer in the competition.

Trailing 2-0 and showing minimal signs of life on the indoor pitch in Atlanta, Argentina rattled off three goals between the 79th minute and second minute of second-half added time, coming to life to land a berth in the quarter-finals with a 3-2 win.

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For the second time in two games, Argentina were stunned by lower-ranked opponents.

But as they did against Cabo Verde in the last round, they found a way and refused to lose, although there were more than a few contentious moments.

Egypt had a second half goal scrubbed out by the VAR and had five players cop yellow cards to Argentina’s none, while the referee also issued a red card to a member of the Egypt’s coaching staff.

The drama then continued after fulltime, as Egypt’s manager Hossam Hassan said they had been the victims of an “injustice,” while striker Mostafa Zico claimed the tournament was “fixed.”

“We looked better than the reigning champions - better in everything - but the result was influenced by internal factors on the pitch and external factors off it,” Hassan told reporters.

“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running.

“In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champion received support at every level.

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“There seem to be pressures from the Argentina side on this outcome. We were objecting to the selection of the referee because of the French situation, but everybody has to suffer at some point, and we suffered.”

He added: “We were hard done by (the referee) today, and everyone saw that. I won’t talk about something like this. We were winning 2-0. After the 2-0 result, everything went against us and worked against us. I don’t even know why the second goal was disallowed, I don’t see any reason for it.”

Striker Zico added: “The referee was not fair. The injustice was clear. We did a good job in the early stages of the match. There’s been an unfairness right from the start of the match. A 2-0 lead isn’t enough to beat Argentina. It is clear this tournament has been fixed.”

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After La Albiceleste scored their first two goals in a four-minute span to rally from a 2-0 deficit, Enzo Fernández delivered the game-winner on a header from the edge of the six-yard box off a long cross from Lautaro Martinez.

Messi scored the equaliser in the 83rd minute, four minutes after Cristian Romero got Argentina on the board with a headed goal off an assist from Messi.

Messi ran onto a pass from Gonzalo Montiel after a chaotic sequence in the box and lasered a shot that eluded Egyptian keeper Mostafa Shoubir.

Messi’s record 21st all-time World Cup goal was his eighth of the tournament, moving him atop the Golden Boot leaderboard.

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He has scored in a record nine straight World Cup matches.

The comeback marked Argentina’s first in the World Cup knockout round since a 2-1 extra-time defeat of Mexico in 2006.

The win, which extended Argentina’s World Cup unbeaten run to 11 matches, sets them up to face Switzerland in a quarter-final on Saturday (AEST) in Kansas City.

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