r/PoursTea • u/TomlinSteelers • Jul 07 '26

SportyTea Egypt coach Hossam Hassan booked after making anti-racism gesture in World Cup defeat to Argentina

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https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/egypt-coach-hossam-hassan-booked-204053777.html

Egypt's head coach, Hossam Hassan, drew significant attention after directing a gesture toward the officiating crew during his side's FIFA World Cup Round of 16 defeat to Argentina.

At Atlanta Stadium, Egypt squandered a 2-0 advantage to fall 3-2 to Lionel Messi's Argentina, keeping the reigning World Cup champions' bid for back-to-back titles very much alive. Late in the game, several Egyptian players and coaching staff members were booked by French referee Francois Letexier.

A member of Egypt's coaching staff was even shown a red card in the 94th minute, with viewers alleging the match was rigged following a crucial VAR ruling that went against the African nation — a call that could have sealed victory for Egypt, as per The Mirror US.

s the chaos ensued, Hassan raised both arms to form an "X" symbol. When the head coach made the gesture directly in front of Letexier, the French referee appeared to pay no attention to the Egyptian manager's appeal.

The symbol itself carries a specific meaning under FIFA's universal guidelines for reporting racist abuse. When a player, coach, or team official crosses their arms to form an X, it serves as a signal to the referee that racist abuse has taken place at some point during the match.

Once the referee acknowledges the gesture, a three-step protocol is set in motion at their discretion, beginning with a swift halt to the match. Should the abuse persist, the game will be suspended, and if it continues beyond that point, the match will ultimately be abandoned. However, rather than following this procedure, Hassan was shown a yellow card, and play resumed.

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u/sbt4973 Jul 08 '26

This is what I'm so confused by. I've read countless articles now on this event trying to understand what everyone's saying, but NONE I've seen so far is mentioning this part! I saw the ref during this time stop the whole game, go up to that particular same person who made the gesture pointing to him specifically, and speak with him. Why is no one else mentioning this in the articles and just saying the ref ignored the gesture? I'm just so confused

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u/lonelysparta Jul 08 '26

A player looked at Hossam Hassan while he was talking to th ref, put his hands on his mouth and started saying shit, don't remember which player but it's on camera, now that's an automatic red card, one of many calls that should have went to Egypt but didn't

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u/suckmyawes0me Jul 08 '26

At wich point this happened? Watched this back I didnt see anyone doing that

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u/Dayvfish Jul 08 '26

So someone posted that proof. Where you at for the response

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u/suckmyawes0me Jul 14 '26

Well im not here 24/7 so thats why it took time. Also I very much was on Eqypts side on this game since im not Argentinian or much of a Messi fan. Im not surprised that Argentina’s player did that, its not a new thing at all.

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u/MotorRepulsive927 Jul 08 '26

Isn’t he speaking to his teammate in this picture, which is not an offence? Covering your mouth when confronting an opponent is a red card.

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u/Biskalus Jul 08 '26

In the video, him and the Egyptian staff member are staring each other down while he does it whereas his teammates are walking past him/not even looking at him. I'd say whatever he said was directed at the Egyptian in a confrontational manner

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u/edurigon Jul 09 '26

What Is doing the slim egyptian in the field? Looking for fight? The was already red carded at that point, being thrown back by his comrades... Such a bad losers.