Like most Americans, I don\u2019t know much about soccer. I never much cared, either\u2026until Morocco made its amazing World Cup run in 2022, their supporters waved Palestinian flags, and I got sucked into the spectacle.<\/p>\n
I do know a fair bit about conspiracy theories. I studied the JFK assassination in my mid-teens, circa the mid-1970s, and noticed the grotesque disjuncture between reality and official discourse. Since then, I\u2019ve been fully aware that a surprisingly high percentage of the best-known conspiracy theories are true, or at least well-founded. When I tried to research and discuss 9\/11 rationally and factually while teaching at the University of Wisconsin in 2006, I was witch-hunted out of the academy<\/a>, which left me plenty of time to look into alleged conspiracies and try to figure out which ones were reality-based<\/a>.<\/p>\n Living in Morocco, where everyone follows the World Cup, I\u2019ve heard plenty of FIFA-related conspiracy theories. This year\u2019s biggest soccer conspiracy theory was the claim that the World Cup was rigged in favor of Argentina\u2019s thuggish and mostly-mediocre players with their aging prima donna star Lionel Messi.<\/p>\n When I first heard it from Moroccan guys at the caf\u00e9 I was skeptical. Global soccer fans, even more than American sports fans, always seem to think the referees are unfair.<\/p>\n Then I sat in another Moroccan caf\u00e9 watching the second half the Argentina-Egypt game. In the 59th minute, Egypt scored to make it 3-0. Game over! But wait\u2026FIFA officials intervened, ordering the ref to look at pre-score footage to find a \u201cfoul\u201d to disallow the goal. The refs obliged, finding an obscure, irrelevant and dubious infraction in the far reaches of the other side of the field, allowing them to cancel the goal and keep the game within Argentina\u2019s reach.<\/p>\n Shortly thereafter, Argentina committed a blatant foul in the box, right by the goal they were attacking, taking down a defender and allowing them to score a goal. The referees ignored the foul and let the goal stand, making it 2-1 in favor of Egypt.<\/p>\n Suddenly, instead of enjoying a three-point advantage, as it would have under honest refereeing, Egypt was only one point ahead. That allowed Argentina to mount an \u201camazing comeback\u201d and win.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s just the tip of the iceberg. Throughout the entire match, Argentina\u2019s notoriously brutish players got away with foul after foul. On the occasions their fouls were called, generally extreme cases, they never got yellow cards. Argentina was called for 13 fouls (actual number much greater) and didn\u2019t get a single yellow card. Egypt was called for basically all of its ten fouls, which were generally less extreme than Argentina\u2019s, and received four yellow cards!<\/p>\n \u26d4\ufe0fThe Worldwide FIFA Scandal \u203c\ufe0f<\/p>\n \u26d4\ufe0f A video of MORE than 4 minutes of robberies from Zionist Argentina TODAY against Egypt.\u203c\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/j3qzRv9p86<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Dr.Sam Youssef Ph.D.,Ph.D.,DPT. (@drhossamsamy65) July 7, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n