What FIFA guidance says on referee being sent home from tournament after Egyptian FA demand

Egypt's heartbreaking 3-2 defeat against Argentina sparked mass controversy, and the man at the centre of those decisions, Francois Letexier, is now under review by FIFA.

In one of the most thrilling matches of the World Cup so far, reigning champions Argentina booked their place in the quarter-finals after staging a stunning comeback on Tuesday.

Egypt had a two-goal lead to protect with just 11 minutes of normal time left, but goals from Cristian Romero and Lionel Messi levelled proceedings before a 93rd-minute winner from Enzo Fernandez sent them through by the skin of their teeth.

A showdown against Switzerland is their reward for prevailing in the five-goal thriller. But while the South American giants are celebrating, their opponents are left seething at controversial refereeing decisions made by Francois Letexier during the match.

In one instance, Mostafa Zico had a goal disallowed by VAR due to a foul at the start of the move, and then Egypt claimed that Mohamed Salah had been fouled in Argentina's penalty area just seconds before Fernandez scored the winner.

Feeling a sense of injustice, several members of the Egyptian team and coaching staff marched onto the pitch to complain to the referee, Letexier, before manager Hossam Hassan and Zico criticised the officials in their post-match interviews, labelling the match as 'fixed' and 'unfair'.

The Egyptian FA have since released an angry statement, condemning the decisions made by the referee and calling for all of the officials to be removed from the World Cup, with an investigation set to be launched by FIFA.

According to French outlet L'Equipe, even though FIFA rules state that a country cannot select, veto, or unilaterally demand the removal of specific referees before matches, FIFA's refereeing officials will review video footage and decide whether Letexier should continue officiating at this year's tournament.

Hossam Hassan speaks out over Egypt 'injustice'

Egypt will take a moral victory if the Frenchman is removed from the World Cup, though refereeing decisions weren't the only controversy the seven-time AFCON winners were involved in.

Manager Hassan was shown a yellow card by Letexier and showed an 'X' gesture towards the match official as he approached him.

An 'X' gesture is commonly used to report incidents of racist abuse, although given the reaction from the rest of the Egyptian bench, it wasn't clear whether there was another cause.

Speaking after the game, Hassan launched an attack on the officials instead of addressing the reason behind the gesture.

"We haven't seen respect or fair play. A penalty was a ruled out, and a second that should have been checked for a penalty for us was not even checked by the VAR," Hassan said.

"A second goal was remarkably, for whatever reason, disallowed. There seems to have been pressure, on the Argentinian side, on the referee that has brought about this outcome.

"Life is unfair. The world is unfair, okay. But why isn't there any fairness in sports? I'm not convinced by this outcome and by the way things unfolded in this match."

An 11-minute collapse denied Egypt a place in the quarter-finals against Switzerland, and ultimately, a chance to record their best World Cup performance.