Egypt coach says 'marketing support' kept Argentina in World Cup

Egypt coach Hossam Hassan on Tuesday claimed his side suffered an "unjust defeat" to Argentina in the FIFA World Cup round of 16 because of "marketing support" intended to keep the defending champions in the tournament.

Hassan criticized French referee Francois Letexier after Egypt's 3-2 defeat, saying the match lacked fairness and that the result was influenced by "marketing reasons."

"We suffered an unjust defeat," Hassan told reporters. "There is support for the world champions from every direction – marketing support. They wanted the previous world champions to stay in the tournament. They wanted Messi to stay."

Hassan said Egypt outperformed Argentina for much of the match but claimed factors beyond football affected the outcome.

"We were better than the world champions in everything, but there were factors on and off the pitch that affected the result," he said.

Egypt forward Mostafa Zico also criticized the officiating after the match.

"The referee was unfair and wasted the efforts of an entire nation," Zico said. "From the beginning of the match, he was against us. The tournament is already directed."

Zico apologized to Egyptian fans, saying the players had hoped to bring joy to the country.

Argentina came from two goals down to beat Egypt 3-2, with Enzo Fernandez scoring the stoppage-time winner to send the defending champions into the quarterfinals.