Fifa's referee chief hits back at Argentina bias claims saying 'nobody can question integrity of officials'

Fifa's referees' chief, Pierluigi Collina, has hit back at claims of bias towards Argentina from Egypt, saying that "nobody can question the integrity of World Cup officials".

The Egyptian Football Association called for French referee Francois Letexier and his team to be sent home following several decisions that went against them in their 3-2 loss to the world champions.

Egypt coach Hossam Hassan suggested that Fifa showed favouritism towards Argentina, saying: "Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition."

His words came after Fifa's decision to suspend a one-game ban for United States striker Folarin Balogun after an intervention by President Donald Trump.

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Collina, who is renowned in the world of refereeing, insisted that his officials were not influenced by anyone.

He said: "Of course, constructive discussion about decisions will always be part of football, but unfounded allegations have no place in our sport.

"Nobody can question the integrity of the Fifa World Cup match officials. When this happens, it may provoke reactions that lead to threats against them and their families. This is not right.

"Equally, nobody can claim that Fifa refereeing can be influenced by anyone, not even by the Fifa president."

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Egypt were frustrated by multiple late decisions which did not go their way against Argentina.

With the North African side up 1-0, they had their second goal disallowed after Marwan Attia was deemed to have fouled Lisandro Martinez by stepping on the centre-back's foot.

Despite the incident happening near Egypt's corner flag, referee Letexier deemed the foul to be in "the attacking phase", to the anger of the underdogs.

Separately, in the build-up to Enzo Fernandez's stoppage-time winner, Egypt had two calls for a penalty.

The first came from Alexis MacAllister appearing to pull down Hamdi Fathy before Mohamed Salah seemed to be tripped inside the penalty area by Julian Alvarez.

Speaking about the complaints, Collina said that Attia "clearly treads" on Martinez's foot, so Egypt's second goal should not have stood.

He said: "We believe that a foul is a foul. Regardless of whether the foul appears 'obvious', if the referee did not see it on the field of play, the VAR can intervene.

"Equally, if no foul is identified in the build-up to a goal, the VAR will advise the referee accordingly.

"Stepping on an opponent's foot is a foul, whereas a defender who touches the ball first and then makes normal football contact has not committed a foul.

"Again, an example of this came at the end of the same game.

"The referee and the VAR deemed it normal football contact between Egypt number 10 Mohamed Salah and Argentina number 10 Julian Alvarez."

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