Argentina beat Egypt in a dramatic comeback that left everyone astonished. Egypt was leading 1-0 and playing out of their skins when they scored a second goal that seemed to put them in complete control very early on. But then VAR stepped in and a controversial call was made. That decision has now has got everyone from soccer fans to pundits and even IndyCar driver Scott McLaughlin questioning.

“Surely VAR has taken purity out of any sporting events,”* McLaughlin wrote on X. *”Gotta let sport be sport and have a human aspect to it… including mistakes and bad calls.”

This was after Egypt had a brilliant counterattacking goal wiped off the board. Mohamed Salah started the move after Haissem Hassan ran down the right, slipping Mostafa Ziko through on goal. Ziko finished past Emiliano Martínez to make it 2-0. But VAR saw something before all this.

Officials sent referee François Letexier to the monitor after spotting Marwan Attia tugging Lisandro Martínez’s shirt and stepping on his foot. The goal was overturned, and that’s where the decision became fuel for thought, or debate. And it has earned plenty of backlash, and not just from McLaughlin. 

Former Scotland striker Ally McCoist agreed the referee reached the correct decision under the laws. Others felt VAR had gone far beyond what it was designed to do.

Former England FIFA World Cup goalkeeper Rob Green couldn’t believe the review. “Surely, this is not within VAR’s realm to review this. It is a full length of the pitch away.”

Egypt wanted a penalty after Mohamed Salah went down in the box shortly before Argentina launched the counterattack that gave the winning goal. This time, no lengthy review, leaving Egyptian players furious over what they saw as inconsistent use of VAR.

Egyptian football expert Ahmad Yousef said that inconsistency was the biggest issue. He believed the foul in the build-up was too minor and happened too far from the goal to justify overturning it. He also wondered whether the same decision would have been made if the shirts had been reversed.

Even former Premier League referee Graham Scott questioned the intervention. Writing in The Athletic, he called it an astonishing overreach. While VAR checks every scoring sequence, he argued this challenge was nowhere near the “clear and obvious” standard needed to cancel a goal in the FIFA World Cup.

That is exactly the point Scott McLaughlin was also making. VAR was brought in to fix obvious mistakes. Instead, many fans believe it has created a new kind of controversy. Big moments are now decided after long reviews and subjective replay angles instead of the referee’s original call.

For Egypt, the impact was big. That goal could have been the difference-maker. Argentina took control late and completed a dramatic comeback. The result ended Egypt’s World Cup run, but the argument over VAR is far from over.