Spain’s Manager Says the Argentina vs. Egypt Refereeing Was Actually Flawless

Luis de la Fuente watched the same World Cup round of 16 match everyone else did. He just doesn’t get what the fuss is about.

The Spain manager came to the defense of referee François Letexier after Argentina’s 3-2 win over Egypt sparked days of debate. Fans and even NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani had weighed in, calling the officiating questionable at best. But de la Fuente isn’t having any of it.

“I honestly don’t understand why you ask me about the controversy surrounding the referee in the Argentina vs. Egypt match. Where did that even come from?” de la Fuente told DAZN, via Sportskeeda. “I watched the game and I thought the referee got everything right. I’d actually like to congratulate him because every decision he made was spot on.”

Letexier won’t be officiating any of the four semifinal matches. That much is confirmed. What happens after that is still up in the air. FIFA hasn’t assigned referees for the final or the third-place playoff yet, so it’s possible Letexier could still get a role. The organization has not commented on his availability for those games.

France’s manager had a different kind of referee situation

Didier Deschamps also talked about referees this week, but in a completely different context. Ahead of France’s quarterfinal against Morocco, the French manager found himself dealing with an all-Argentina officiating crew. Facundo Tello was the head ref, with Juan Pablo Belatti and Gabriel Chade on the lines.

France handled Morocco pretty comfortably anyway. But the referee assignment raised eyebrows given that Argentina had just advanced past Egypt in a game that left a lot of people unhappy. Deschamps kept it simple.

“We have to deal with it. I trust the referees. Our opponent is Morocco, not the referee. Let’s hope ours are as good as Monsieur Letexier was.”

So you’ve got two different national team managers saying two different things about two different referee situations. De la Fuente thinks Letexier was perfect. Deschamps basically hopes his crew is half as good. Neither one seems too bothered by the noise around the Argentina-Egypt game. But the noise isn’t going away anytime soon.