Mohamed Salah and Alexis Mac Allister both at center of furious World Cup controversy

Mohamed Salah and Alexis Mac Allister were at the center of World Cup controversy, with Argentina moving on to the quarterfinals after an emotional Round of 16 win fraught with questionable refereeing

Mohamed Salah and Alexis Mac Allister both found themselves at the center of World Cup controversy after incidents during Argentina's dramatic win over Egypt.

On Tuesday, Salah's Egypt clashed with Mac Allister's Argentina, with the Egyptians were on the verge of eliminating the reigning World Cup champions, leading 2-0 in the second half. However, Argentina fought back furiously, eventually coming away with a 3-2 win at Atlanta Stadium.

The game was a controversial one, however, as a number of Egyptian players and coaches were booked in the closing moments of the match as emotions ran high and tempers flared at the referees over how the match, as a whole, was officiated.

And incidents involving both Salah and Mac Allister in quick succession just before Argentina's winning goal proved flashpoints.

Egypt protested furiously after Mac Allister was seen seemingly grabbing Egyptian star Hamdy Fathy's jersey in the box and bringing him down. VAR was not used on the play, and moments later, Enzo Fernandez scored the crucial header.

In another instance, just before Salah was making his way into the box, and the star appeared to lose his footing and fall on the ground as he attempted to maneuver around an Argentinian defender. Replays of the play appeared to show Nicolás Tagliafico hitting the side of Salah's foot, with some believing he brought him down.

Neither play was called by the referees, and VAR was unused. Very quickly, fans began to ponder what had happened, with some taking opposing sides in the argument.

"Exactly, those two incidents looked like clear fouls/clips that deserved at least a VAR check," one fan began. "Especially the one on Salah. Crazy how Egypt’s goal got scrutinized, but these in the build-up to Argentina’s winner didn’t. I think Inconsistency is killing the game #VAR #WorldCup."

Meanwhile, another added: "The first situation should never be a penalty in football. They hold worse at corners. In the second situation, it is very clear that neither player has the ball. After the defender got the ball, Salah didn't touch, nobody has it, so no penalty."

Earlier in the match, Egypt had a goal disallowed after French referee Francois Letexier was alerted by VAR to a potential foul before Mostafa Zico's goal. After a review, it was determined that Lisandro Martinez was illegally taken down by an Egyptian player, disallowing a goal that occurred more than 20 seconds afterward.

Ahmad Yousef, an Egyptian football expert, said on BBC Radio 5 Live of the match: "Huge amounts of disappointment across Egypt. There is so much inconsistency at the moment with VAR and decisions and how far you go back to pull a decision.

"The referee made the wrong decision disallowing Egypt's second goal. There was such a long distance that had gone by and the foul was so minimal so I completely understand why the Egyptian coaching staff and squad are so disappointed.

"If that was Lionel Messi or someone else in an Argentina shirt, the question is would there have been the same consistency, that is what has really aggrieved people."

Zico continued on after the match, stating, "The referee was really not fair. Not fair. The referee was not fair. The injustice was clear. We did a good job in the early stages of the match.

"There's been an unfairness right from the start of the match. A 2-0 lead isn't enough to beat Argentina. It's clear that this tournament has been fixed. But God is sufficient for us."

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