Egypt have demanded that FIFA removes the officials who oversaw their World Cup last 16 defeat to Argentina, after accusing the refereeing team of “double standards” and “blatant errors” in a dramatic 3-2 loss.

The Egyptian Football Association confirmed it has lodged a formal complaint with football’s world governing body, calling for an investigation into the decisions made during the match in Atlanta.

The controversy centres on two major incidents in the second half. With Egypt leading 1-0, Mostafa Zico thought he had doubled their advantage, only for VAR to rule the goal out after Marwan Attia was judged to have stepped on Lisandro Martinez’s foot earlier in the move.

Egypt were also furious after Mohamed Salah appeared to be fouled inside the Argentina penalty area shortly before the reigning world champions broke forward and scored a stoppage time winner.

In a statement, the EFA said its president Hany Abou Rida had filed a complaint with FIFA demanding an investigation into French referee Francois Letexier and his officiating team.

The federation said the “serious refereeing mistakes” had contributed to Egypt’s defeat and their exit from the tournament. It also accused the officials of refusing to properly review key footage and claimed the national team had faced discrimination.

The EFA said it wants the referee, the VAR officials and the entire officiating crew removed from the rest of the World Cup while the matter is investigated.

Egypt, who have never reached the World Cup quarter finals, had looked on course for one of the biggest wins in their history before Argentina produced a late comeback.

Lionel Messi, who may be playing in his final World Cup, set up Argentina’s first goal in the 79th minute before scoring the equaliser just four minutes later. The defending champions then found a late winner to send Egypt crashing out.

After the match, Egypt manager Hossam Hassan said his side had been treated unfairly.

“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running,” he said.

Zico went even further, saying the injustice was obvious from the start of the game.

“The referee was really unfair. The injustice was clear,” he said. “It is clear that this tournament has been fixed.”

Argentina will now face Switzerland in Kansas City on Saturday night, with kick off at 2am BST on Sunday.

However, Egypt’s complaint is unlikely to change the outcome of the match. Protests over refereeing decisions rarely succeed at the World Cup, even when national associations formally challenge FIFA.

At the 2022 tournament, France filed a protest after a late goal was ruled out by VAR in their 1-0 defeat to Tunisia. The French Football Federation argued the review appeared to go against VAR protocol, but FIFA dismissed the complaint with a short statement and offered no detailed explanation.

That is often how these disputes end. Refereeing decisions are usually treated as subjective, and FIFA is rarely willing to reopen major controversies once a match has finished.

Officials can make mistakes, and supporters will argue over those decisions for years. But proving anything beyond human error is extremely difficult.

Egypt may feel they were robbed of a historic World Cup moment, but unless FIFA takes the unusual step of publicly backing their complaint, this is likely to fade without any major action.