Egyptian Fans Turn World Cup Heartbreak Into Defiant 'Toz' Celebration
A video putting the World Cup trophy in a bin beside the word "toz" has drawn 9.2 million views, channelling Egyptian anger over a 3-2 round-of-16 defeat by Argentina, a goal ruled out by VAR and a waved-away penalty appeal.
22 July 2026
Updated 1 August 2026
Egyptian football fans have turned a painful World Cup exit into a defiant celebration, according to Egyptian Streets. The outlet describes a video in which the FIFA World Cup trophy sits in a bin among rubbish, struck by a water bottle, with the Arabic word "toz" — meaning roughly "whatever" or "who cares" — displayed alongside it.
The video was made by Egyptian creator Danny Arafa and posted to Instagram the day after Egypt's 3-2 defeat by Argentina, Egyptian Streets reported. It has drawn 9.2 million views and more than 460,000 likes, with an English version passing one million, and its caption reads: "We couldn't care less about FIFA and their calls." Arafa has since produced stickers and posters of the binned trophy, with proceeds going to Palestinian charities, the outlet said.
The anger it channels dates from the round-of-16 tie at Atlanta Stadium on 7 July. Egypt led 2-0 with eleven minutes to play before conceding three times, Lionel Messi levelling and Enzo Fernández scoring the winner in stoppage time, according to Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera reported that a 62nd-minute goal by Mostafa Ziko, set up by Mohamed Salah, was ruled out after a VAR review found that Marwan Attia had lightly tugged the shirt of Lisandro Martínez and stepped on his foot in the build-up. A late penalty appeal after Hamdy Fathy went down under a challenge was waved away.
The Egyptian Football Association's president, Hany Abo Rida, filed an official complaint against French referee François Letexier and his assistants, criticising "influential refereeing" and the use of VAR in incidents the federation said directly influenced the course of the game, Al Jazeera reported.
Former England striker Alan Shearer said of the decisions: "Either both are fouls, or neither is." Al Jazeera also reported criticism from Rob Green, who said the incident was surely not within VAR's remit to review, and from Ian Wright and Jamie Carragher.