French Referee Expert Criticizes Egypt Goal Disallowance Against Argentina

French referee expert Tony Chapron strongly criticized the annulment of Egypt's goal against Argentina during their 2026 World Cup round of 16 match, declaring the decision entirely wrong and unjustified.

Chapron sharply condemned the joint ruling by the French officials—field referee François Letexier and video assistant referee Jérôme Brisard—that led to the disallowance of the Pharaohs' goal. He stated that the decision disregarded the refereeing standards established by FIFA for the tournament.

According to Chapron, Letexier managed the match successfully until the intervention of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR). In remarks to the French newspaper Sport, he said, "Up to the 60th minute, everything was proceeding well, and the referee's performance was consistent and effective in a match that reached a high level of difficulty and complexity."

He added, "From the start, Letexier adopted FIFA’s philosophy of allowing play to continue and avoiding frequent whistles. This led to tolerance of some strong physical challenges, and he managed the game according to this flexible approach."

Chapron questioned the necessity of the VAR intervention to cancel Egypt’s goal, responding emphatically, "No, absolutely not. Since the tournament began, I have observed over a thousand similar incidents, none of which were called as fouls."

He identified Jérôme Brisard, the VAR official, as primarily responsible for the controversy, stating, "Brisard put his colleague Letexier in a very difficult and awkward position. Once the field referee is summoned to review the replay, he becomes psychologically constrained and feels compelled to justify the review by calling a foul. Objectively, there may have been some contact, but within the standards of this match and the tournament overall, the goal should never have been disallowed."

Chapron further criticized the VAR review process, noting, "When the VAR room called Letexier to review a clip from the start of the attack, it put him in an unenviable position. I am convinced the VAR officials had no legal right to return to such a distant and dead-ball moment in that manner."

He concluded by highlighting a key timing detail: "There were a full 18 seconds between the moment of contact and the ball entering the net. During that time, the ball traveled over 100 meters, and Argentina’s players had at least four clear opportunities to stop the attack and regain possession but failed. How can we then go back after all that?"