Mohamed Salah gesture to World Cup refs spotted as Egypt teammates erupt in fury

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Egyptian captain Mohamed Salah paused his fiery energy for the referee team post-match by showing humility post-match following Egypt's World Cup exit to ArgentinaMohamed Salah and Lionel Messi greet each other before Egypt-Argentina(Image: Getty Images)After a historic run and holding a 2-0 second-half lead, the Egyptian national team bowed out of the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to reigning champions Argentina.Captain and longtime Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah thought he had an assist after his brilliant througball was converted by Mostafa Ziko in the 60th minute to put Egypt 2-0 up in the World Cup Round of 16 contest. Instead, the goal was waived off for a foul on Argentine defender Lisandro Martinez, committed around 25 seconds before Ziko's shot.Egyptian players seemed determined to argue with French referee Francois Letexier and his crew post-match, a carryover from mid-game arguments, but a determined Salah put a swift end to their consternation.Haissem Hassan and Yasser Ibrahim seemed intent on giving the crew a piece of their minds before Salah walked over and deftly shoved his two teammates away.The Egyptian captain, the second leading goalscorer in his nation's history (behind coach Hossam Hassan), shook the hand of each and every one before walking off.Content cannot be displayed without consentDuring the match, Salah was just as animated as his Egyptian teammates and coaches when pleading for a VAR review of a penalty after Argentina's Enzo Fernadnez scored the injury-time winner.Hassan didn't mince his words post-match when speaking with the media.

"I will say what's on my mind regardless of the consequences. This was clearly a rigged match, and the whole world saw it," he said (via a translation).Mohamed Salah had worked for the referee team throughout the match(Image: Getty Images)"And I want to say one more thing, if they want Argentina to win so bad, why call everyone to come and participate?" Hassan continued.“FIFA promotes ‘Fair Play,’ but we didn’t see it on the pitch… without those mistakes, the result would’ve been different.”Salah, still without a club team following his exit from Liverpool in the spring, will finish his 2026 World Cup having scored once and assisted two other Egyptian goals.Egypt became just the fifth African nation — after Cameroon, Senegal, Ghana, and Morocco — to win a World Cup knockout stage game after the side beat Australia on penalties in the Round of 32.

Salah converted his penalty in the shootout via a Panenka.”I am more experienced than others, and I wanted to give them confidence. I decided [in the] last minute, I don’t know if it’s my last World Cup or not, but I had to do it," Salah explained post-match."It's history," he said of the win.