Football gods decide to look other way: Mourinho, Capello on Argentina vs Egypt

3 min readJul 8, 2026 03:29 PM IST

Egypt's Mohamed Salah (10) talks with Referee Francois Letexier, of France, during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Argentina and Egypt in Atlanta, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser)

“Sometimes, even warriors lose because the devils decide the story should end differently.”

That’s how acclaimed Real Madrid manager described what happened in the Argentina-Egypt Round of 16 game, which ended with the defending champions continuing their title defence and the Pharaohs alleging “unfair” and “robbed” at the way they ended on the wrong side despite being 2-0 ahead till the 79th minute.

The former Porto, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Manchester United and Tottenham – among several other clubs – manager has no doubt where his sympathy lay.

“Egypt have every reason to be proud of themselves. They stood toe-to-toe with one of the biggest football nations in the world and made them suffer for every minute. When I look at Egypt tonight, I don’t see failures. I see warriors. And sometimes, even warriors lose because the devils decide the story should end differently,” the Portuguese tactician was quoted as saying by SethOfficial on X.

Mourinho believed Hossam Hassan’s charges gave everything they could on the Atlanta Stadium pitch. “I don’t think Egypt came up short because of effort. I watched Mohamed Salah. I watched Omar Marmoush. I watched every Egyptian player on that pitch. They never stopped fighting. They ran, they pressed, they believed until the very end. Sometimes football rewards courage… tonight, I don’t think it did.

“What I saw was a team that gave everything but left the stadium with nothing. The players never gave up. The supporters never stopped singing. But some nights, it feels like the football gods decide to look the other way,” he added.

Another legendary manager, Fabio Capello believes that “whenever supporters spend more time discussing officiating than the players, football itself has failed.” The Italian said “what I cannot accept is inconsistency.”

“Egypt scored a goal that looked perfectly legitimate, yet VAR searched every possible angle until it found a reason to rule it out. Later, when Egypt were asking for major decisions inside Argentina’s penalty area, that same level of investigation disappeared. That is what frustrates players, coaches and supporters,” the former England, Russia, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Roma and Juventus manager was quoted as saying on the same platform.

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“Football is built on trust. If one incident deserves three minutes of review, then every major incident deserves the same attention. You cannot apply one standard to one team and a different standard to another. That is where people begin to question the integrity of the decisions.” The Italian believed Argentina had enough quality to go past Egypt on their own.

“Argentina have world-class players. Nobody doubts that. Messi, Martínez and the rest have enough quality to win matches on their own. But when controversial decisions repeatedly fall in one direction, it becomes impossible to ignore the conversation. Egypt earned the right to lose because Argentina were better—not because the biggest moments seemed to be interpreted differently.”

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