Argentina has been embroiled in controversies long before the latest one arrived. It started in the group stage, when Messi went studs-up into Algeria’s Aissa Mandi and walked away without so much as a yellow card. Neither did VAR look at it. The Algerian Football Federation filed an official complaint with FIFA, but to no avail. Then came Cape Verde in the round of 32, where Argentina nearly blew their lead and needed a disputed Lisandro Martinez goal to survive, cleared by VAR despite many pointing at a potential offside in the build-up. Then against Egypt, Argentina went 2-0 down and came back to win 3-2, with three separate officiating calls going their way across the 90 minutes.
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Now, the officiating crew for Thursday’s France-Morocco quarterfinal in Foxborough, Massachusetts, has been confirmed, and it’s bound to make the next few weeks more dramatic than anyone thought. All five officials are Argentine. Facundo Tello as head referee, Juan Pablo Belatti and Gabriel Chade as assistants, Darío Herrera as fourth official, Cristian Navarro as reserve. It’s the first time at this entire 2026 World Cup that every match official for a knockout game comes from the same country.
FIFA announces that all five referees for the France-Morocco match will be Argentinian.
It will be the first time in the World Cup that a match will feature a refereeing team made up entirely of officials from the same country. pic.twitter.com/XJwguNGcMt
— Pop Core (@TheePopCore) July 7, 2026
Before moving forward, it is important to understand FIFA’s rationale behind this. CONMEBOL officials are routinely assigned to UEFA vs. CAF clashes to keep confederation neutrality, with France representing UEFA and Morocco CAF, so an Argentine crew ticks that box cleanly. The problem is the rationale doesn’t address the one thing fans keep pointing at: Argentina is still in this tournament. The team could face the France-Morocco winner in the semifinals, and fans worry that referees officiating the game will determine who plays Argentina next.
“They’re not hiding it anymore,” one fan said.
“Just imagine if France lose — won’t it invite unnecessary controversy? What is FIFA up to?” another questioned.
“Calling it — France will be eliminated.”
“Yeah, not rigged at all. Totally legit.”
Lastly, one fan put it simply: “What do you think about giving the trophy directly to Argentina and being done with it?”
France is the one team Argentina genuinely have to worry about. The 2022 final already established that. France went 2-0 down, and Mbappé scored a hat-trick to drag them back to 3-3, before Argentina won on penalties in what is still widely called the greatest World Cup final ever played.
Per ThatsFootball, “Ousmane Dembélé and Kylian Mbappé have now combined for 6 World Cup goals — 4 assists from Dembélé to Mbappé, 2 the other way, more than any other pair in the last 60 years.” Not to forget Michael Olise, Désiré Doué, Bradley Barcola, and Rayan Cherki — France simply has a loaded attacking squad.
While one is not supposed to take Morocco lightly, since they beat Canada 3-0 in the round of 16 and won’t make it easy, France is operating at a different level right now. And if they get through Thursday, Argentina faces a potential semifinal rematch with the team that almost took them down in the last final.
