00:00Egypt led the reigning World Cup champions 2-0.
00:03Referee looked at a screen, wound the clock back nearly 100 yards, and took a goal off the board.
00:0711 minutes later, Argentina had scored 3 unanswered goals, and Egypt was out of the World Cup.
00:12That sequence is why an Egyptian coach stood in front of cameras, and said his team had been robbed.
00:17That's why red card got shown to his own staff.
00:20That's why rigged became the word of the night.
00:22We're going to walk through exactly what happened on that pitch in Atlanta,
00:25what Hossam Hassan said in the minutes after, and why pundits who have nothing to do with Egypt.
00:29Looked at the same footage, and couldn't disagree with him.
00:32So let's start with the goal that never counted, because that's where this whole storm begins.
00:36Egypt vs Argentina was supposed to be a formality.
00:39The reigning champions, Lionel Messi still leading the line,
00:42up against a team that had never reached a World Cup quarterfinal in its history.
00:46Instead, for about an hour, Egypt outplayed them.
00:49With Egypt leading 1-0 and threatening one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history,
00:54Mohamed Salah released Mostafa Zico with a perfectly weighted pass on the hour mark.
00:59Zico calmly lifted the ball over the advancing Emiliano Martinez.
01:03The Egyptian bench emptied.
01:04Fans in the stadium and back in Cairo were watching a nation on the brink of history.
01:09Those celebrations, however, were short-lived.
01:11Referee Francois Ledixier, after being alerted by the video assistant referee,
01:16disallowed the goal for a foul committed much earlier in the move.
01:19Replays showed Marwan Atiyah stepping on Lissandro Martinez's foot,
01:23while also appearing to hold the Argentine defender's shirt just outside Egypt's penalty.
01:27Before the pharaohs launched the counterattack.
01:29That's the play, a shirt tug and a stepped-on foot right at the edge of Egypt's own box.
01:34The complete opposite end of the field from where the ball ended up in the net.
01:37The distance is what turned this from a normal review into a firestorm.
01:41VAR was used to take away an Egypt goal because it spotted a foul that happened 20-some seconds earlier.
01:47Followed by a full 100-yard run from one end of the field to the other.
01:51Contact the referee saw in real time and didn't call a foul.
01:54The man in the middle watched it live and waved play on.
01:57It took a video review minutes later to change his mind.
02:00Now here's the part that makes this messy rather than clean.
02:03Technically, the decision is supported by the laws of the game.
02:06Under IFAB's rules and FIFA's VAR protocol,
02:10officials are required to review the entire attacking possession phase leading to a goal.
02:15And since Egypt won possession directly from Atiyah's challenge
02:18and maintained that same sequence before Zico scored,
02:22VAR was within its remit to intervene.
02:23So on paper, it wasn't a broken rule.
02:26It was the rule working exactly as written.
02:28But almost nobody who watched it live thought that's how the rule should work.
02:32While the ruling may have been correct in law,
02:34many pundits questioned whether it reflected the intended use of VAR.
02:38Arguing the contact was too minor and too far removed from the eventual goal.
02:43Former Premier League referee, Mark Klatenberg put it bluntly.
02:46Saying this type of foul wasn't consistent with how the referees had been refereeing the tournament.
02:51And it's such a subjective decision whether it's a foul at all, not a clear foul.
02:56He went further, calling it VAR looking at something too deeply to try to cancel the Egypt goal.
03:01Over many passes and a long distance and a long time, not one or two seconds.
03:06Former England goalkeeper Rob Green couldn't believe it either.
03:09Watching it unfold live on air, he said flatly that it's barely anything, a full pitch away.
03:14And asked how this could possibly fall within VAR's remit to even review.
03:18He added that someone stepping on someone's toe a hundred yards away isn't why VAR was brought into the game.
03:25That officials have reached far beyond the powers it should have.
03:28And that the referee saw the tackle live, decided not to give it.
03:31And then Egypt with a brilliant breakaway goal, got denied a two-goal cushion.
03:35Egypt didn't fold immediately.
03:38Zico scored again minutes later to restore the 2-0 lead on the scoreboard.
03:42And for a while it looked like the disallowed goal would just be a footnote to a famous upset.
03:47It did not stay a footnote.
03:49Egypt was able to take a 2-0 lead when Zico scored again in the 67th minute.
03:54But Argentina scored in the 79th minute to cut Egypt's lead to 2-1.
03:58And Messi scored the equalizer in the 83rd minute.
04:01Then, deep into stoppage time, Messi connected with a sweet volley to level proceedings at 2-2.
04:07And not long after, Enzo Fernandes scored a dramatic injury time header to consign Egypt to a 3-2 defeat.
04:14In what's already being called one of the more remarkable comebacks the tournament has produced.
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