Shearer explodes over disallowed Egypt goal in Argentina's controversial 3-2 World Cup win

Alan Shearer branded the VAR ruling that disallowed Mostafa Ziko’s goal for Egypt against Argentina ‘utter and complete b*cks’, as the pundits on The Rest Is Football podcast tore into the officiating surrounding Argentina’s 3-2 round-of-16 win in Atlanta.

Yasser Ibrahim had given Egypt an early lead, and Ziko appeared to double their advantage midway through the second half with a sweeping team goal. Egypt dispossessed Argentina deep in their own half, Haissem Hassan ran the length of the pitch past two defenders, found Mohamed Salah, and Salah threaded a pass for Ziko to slot past Emi Martinez. VAR, however, ruled the move out, citing a foul on Martinez before the Egyptian breakaway began.

Shearer, joined by Gary Lineker, Micah Richards and Joe Cole, was unsparing in his criticism. ‘I don’t think the Salah incident in the penalty box was a penalty, I don’t think the shirt pull was a penalty — that same logic applies for that free-kick,’ he said. ‘If you’re going to give that one, then you’re going 110 yards back and saying, sorry, that was a foul, we’re going to disallow one of the best goals of the tournament. I think it’s utter and complete b***cks.’

The Newcastle United legend also warned that inconsistent officiating feeds wider suspicion about the tournament. ‘You’ve got the top four in the world rankings — England, France, Spain and Argentina — guaranteed not to meet each other until a semi-final if they win their groups. You’ve got interference from presidents making calls, and then you get that decision because of Argentina. No wonder there’s so many theories about it stinking. You can’t blame people for coming up with these theories.’

Lineker used the debate to call for a rule change, arguing that the threshold for overturning a goal of that quality via a marginal foul so far back up the pitch needs to be reconsidered. Richards echoed the frustration, noting that the inconsistency in applying the same standard to potential Egyptian penalty appeals in the same match made the overall picture harder to defend.

Argentina ultimately came from behind to win 3-2 and advance, but the manner of the victory has left a significant cloud over the result and renewed scrutiny on VAR’s role at this World Cup.