ENTER THE VOID
What do we do now? Stare numbly at a blank wall for the next 24 hours? Finally get some shut-eye? Endlessly re-watch Sidny Lopes Cabral’s curler against Argentina and his Pat Cash-style climb into the stands to celebrate? Work on our stutter penalties in the park? This is a dark moment, the first scheduled day of rest at the Geopolitics World Cup. We’re 96 matches down, just seven to go – eight if you are, for some reason, heavily invested in who finishes third. But maybe we do need a moment to chill, to decompress, after Argentina’s desperate comeback win over Egypt, an emotional cracker that even left Lionel Messi in tears at full-time. There’s so much to discuss: another spurned penalty by Messi before his redemption act; the wall that was Mostafa Shobeir; the anger felt by the Egyptians after Enzo Fernández’s winner. Space must, however, be given to the greatest goal that never was.
- Haissem Hassan produced a Messi-like run and set up Mostafa Ziko, but the sublime goal was controversially ruled out by VAR.
- Experts split: Chris Hoy argued the disallowance was correct, while Graham Scott insisted the contact did not warrant a VAR overturn.
- Egypt later took the lead but collapsed after Hassan left; manager Hossam Hassan decried an injustice and threatened to stop watching the tournament.
Football Daily must admit that it knew little about Real Oviedo’s Haissem Hassan before the game, and giving away a penalty on his first GWC start was far from ideal. But then came that possessed run down the right wing in the second half, weaving his way through half the pitch, a move straight out of the Messi playbook. He found Mohamed Salah, whose cute through ball met the perfectly-timed run of Mostafa Ziko, a first-time finish giving his side a two-goal lead against the holders. It would have been wrong if he hadn’t taken his shirt off to celebrate.
Cue the machinations of VAR, with Lisandro Martínez’s shirt pulled and foot stood on at the other end before Hassan’s otherworldly run, prompting the goal to be disallowed. “The simple fact is it was right to disallow it,” wrote former Premier League ref Chris Hoy for Big Website. “There is no time limit or ceiling on the number of passes to be taken into account.” OK, well done, good process … or maybe not. “The decision to disallow Egypt’s goal is incorrect,” sniffed the Athletic’s ref expert Graham Scott. “If we look at the incident, there was some contact, both foot-on-foot and a fleeting hold of the shirt, but there was no offence worthy of a VAR call-back committed here.” If the pros can’t agree, what verdict can we offer? Could it not stand on creative grounds? This was a work of art that merited preservation.
Ziko did eventually get his goal, set up by our new favourite player, Hassan, Egypt magnificent on the counter once again. But a collapse followed after Hassan left the field, and the Pharaohs claimed they should have had a penalty before Fernández’s decisive header. Hossam Hassan, Egypt’s manager, said his side had “suffered an injustice” and that he wouldn’t be watching another minute of the GWC. We, of course, lack the self-restraint to do the same. Roll on the quarter-finals.
