Amin Mohamed Omar made a strong debut in his World Cup career in the South Korea-Czechia game. But the Argentina-Austria game was always going to be his toughest test yet. The Egyptian referee was blasted for his indecisiveness in allowing a goal that should never have stood and for not being consistent enough with both teams.

Even after missing a penalty, Lionel Messi scored an iconic record-making brace to help his Argentina to a 2-0 victory over Austria. Messi emerged as the sole highest goal scorer in World Cup history after the first goal and extended his lead after the second goal. The victory helped the defending champions top Group J and punch their ticket to the knockouts.

The first moment of controversy arrived in the 5th minute when Argentina’s Lautaro Martinez was caught by Xaver Schlager. Omar followed from behind and awarded a corner, but the VAR intervened to send him to the monitor.

Many fans believe there was no clear and obvious error as the defender caught very little of the attacker. However, after a review, the referee awarded a penalty to Argentina but decided not to book the defender early in the game despite protests from the attacking team. Lionel Messi missed the resulting penalty, though.

“Why are players of Argentina ordering the referee for cards and he is actually complying?” a fan asked on X.

Under Law 12 of the IFAB Laws of the Game, asking for a yellow card to be issued through a gesture is a bookable offense. It is enforced regularly in the Premier League, but when it was flouted in the World Cup, the fans were baffled.

In the 15th minute, Alexis Mac Allister caught Paul Wanner with a strong tackle, but the referee decided not to caution him. Similar incidents drew negative reactions, as fans were convinced he was refereeing teams differently.

MacAllister was the offender once again as he caught Schlager from behind off the ball, and the move resulted in Lionel Messi scoring a record-breaking first goal of the day. Manchester United icon Peter Schmeichel was furious and believed that the goal should not have stood as he was analyzing the goal on Fox.

“This is a free-kick; Mac Allister has kicked the player down. That should have been a free-kick. VAR should have taken that back. That is a clear and obvious mistake by the referee,” he added, as the VAR did not check the incident at all.

“A few incidents where yellow cards should’ve been shown to Argentinian players and the referee just takes his eyes off,” a fan agonized, as another fan had enough and wrote, “Send this referee back to Egypt, man.”

In the 75th minute, Facundo Medina and Konrad Laimer were about to get into a tussle before the referee intervened early and carded the pair to separate them. Stefan Posch bodychecked Thiago Almada and was promptly carded by the referee for the poor decision. As the game went on, the referee gradually improved.

A regular name in top African competitions, Omar had to wait for almost nine years to appear at a World Cup after being FIFA-listed in 2017. He balances his referee career expertly by not letting it clash with his primary profession.

He has a wealth of experience in African football and finally got a chance to showcase it on the world stage. After issuing only one card on his debut, he hoped for a calmer second game. But the number of fouls and three yellow cards he issued were enough to split the perception.

Referees accused of bias and favoritism at the 2026 World Cup

The latest performance from Amin Mohamed Omar joins a growing list of controversial refereeing performances at the World Cup. In the clash between Algeria and Argentina, Polish referee Szymon Marciniak was criticized for refereeing big names differently.

Marciniak failed to book Lionel Messi for a potential red-card challenge on Aissa Mandi, and the VAR failed to intervene as well. Algerian fans were furious, and post-game, Algeria made sure they took the incident to FIFA’s notice.

German referee Felix Zwayer was accused of favoring the home side by fans. Even the Australian head coach Tony Popovic felt the referee had an off day after seeing his team not win any fouls.

“I think today was, I wouldn’t say the best day for the referee,” he declared. “I thought the referee gave too many fouls away. Sometimes you didn’t have to do much to win a foul, and on the other occasions you had to do a fair bit to win one,” Popovic said in a post-match press conference.

Australia’s Nestory Irankunda was even more critical of the referee as he believed only one team was getting all the calls.

“The ref was having a stinker today. But it is what it is. He was giving every call to the USA. I get it, but at the same time, there are two teams on the field, so you have to give the calls both ways. And he didn’t do that today,” he said as per AAP.

With increasingly mixed performances from the referees in big games, FIFA will certainly look into this issue as the tournament approaches the mid-way point.