๐จ๐ฃ๏ธNew: Iker Casillas on the controversial officiating decisions in Egypt and Argentina game, Messi and Argentina are being favored:
โAs a goalkeeper, Iโve always believed football should be decided by players, not by controversies that leave people talking about referees for days.
I watched Argentina against Egypt, and honestly, I understand why Egyptian fans are furious, what I donโt understand is the consistency.
Egypt scores a second goal. The ball is in the net. Then VAR starts digging deeper than an archaeological expedition. Suddenly weโre reviewing incidents from so far back in the move that it feels like the goal was disallowed by history itself.
Fine.
If thatโs the standard, then apply that standard everywhere. Because when Egypt were screaming for penalties late in the game, where was that same energy? Where was that same determination to find the truth?
Where was that same microscopic attention to detail? Thatโs the question millions of people are asking. One moment receives a full criminal investigation. The other gets a missing-person report. And football fans notice these things.
People will say Argentina showed the mentality of champions. I agree,they fought until the end, they punished every mistake. But letโs stop pretending that the officiating didnโt become a major part of the story. The disallowed Egyptian goal changed the emotional temperature of the match.
Then came two penalty appeals, Two opportunities to prove consistency. Two opportunities to reassure everyone that the same rules applied to both teams.
Nothing.
No moment that convinced Egypt they had received equal treatment. Then Argentina score the winner. And thatโs when the frustration exploded. The bench erupted, cards came out, Coaches lost control of their emotions. Not because Egypt were losing. Because they felt the game was slipping away through decisions they could not understand.
Thatโs the difference, Fans can accept defeat. What fans struggle to accept is uncertainty.
The feeling that one teamโs actions are examined frame by frame while another teamโs incidents are viewed at highway speed.
Football cannot survive on trust if supporters leave the stadium believing the standards changed depending on the shirt being worn.
Maybe Argentina still win if every decision goes Egyptโs way. Maybe they donโt. Weโll never know. And thatโs exactly why the debate will never die.
Because Egypt didnโt leave this World Cup talking about tactics. They didnโt leave talking about missed chances.
They left talking about a disallowed goal, ignored penalty appeals, VAR consistency, bookings on the bench, and a feeling that every time they climbed the mountain, somebody moved the finish line.
Argentina advance. Egypt go home. But the biggest winner tonight wasnโt football.
It was controversy.
And whenever controversy becomes the star of the show, the sport has failed the people who love it.โ