Argentina Alleges Cyber Attack Over Emails Criticizing Refereeing

Argentina’s dramatic escape against Egypt has spilled from the pitch to the inbox.

Hours after the world champions overturned a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 and reach the World Cup quarter-finals, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) said it may have fallen victim to a cyber attack, after emails sent from one of its official accounts appeared to denounce the victory as tainted.

The messages, reported by Argentine outlet La Calle, were sent to journalists following the last-16 clash. They allegedly claimed “Argentina did not win” and that the result came from “corrupt refereeing decisions”, while also lavishing praise on Egypt’s performance.

For a country that guards its football image fiercely, the wording was explosive. It also arrived at a moment of high tension.

Egypt, stunned by the late collapse after leading 2-0, had already gone on the offensive. The Egyptian Football Association formally asked Fifa to remove French referee Francois Letexier and his entire team from the tournament, accusing them of bias in favour of Argentina during the knockout tie.

As the refereeing row gathered pace, the AFA moved quickly to distance itself from the rogue emails and raised the alarm over a possible breach of its systems.

“We want to inform you that we have detected the possible sending of emails from one of our institutional accounts that were not generated or authorised by our team,” the AFA said in a statement.

The federation urged anyone who had received unusual correspondence to treat it with suspicion and ignore it.

It asked the public to “dismiss any message that you have recently received from our account and that is unusual, especially if it contains links, attachments or requests personal information”.

According to La Calle, AFA sources indicated that hackers of Egyptian origin could be behind the messages, which combined criticism of the referee with compliments for Egypt’s display in the defeat.

The AFA stopped short of confirming who might be responsible but made clear it believes its systems have been compromised.

“There is a possibility that our account has been subject to unauthorised access, so we are working to clarify what happened and adopt the necessary security measures,” the statement added.

On the field, Argentina had already survived a major scare. The holders looked on the brink of a shock last-16 exit when they trailed 2-0, only to produce a late surge to turn the tie around and keep their title defence alive.

Off it, they now find themselves fighting a different kind of battle — one over credibility, cyber security and a refereeing storm that shows no sign of easing as the World Cup heads into its decisive stages.