After being eliminated from the FIFA World Cup Round of 16 following a 2-3 loss to Argentina, Egyptian forward Mostafa Ziko, who scored one goal, was interviewed by numerous media outlets in the mixed zone.

We saw tears in your eyes. Victory was so, so close. Tell us how you feel, dear.

Thanks be to Allah. I want to thank all the players, who performed like men; they played a great game. I am proud of you all, I am proud of everyone on this team, and I am proud of all the Egyptian people. We were unlucky; the game was under our control, but it slipped away at the last moment. Some strange things happened on the field.

But thanks to Allah, I am proud of every player and every individual in this team. I am proud of the Egyptian people who followed us all over the world. You are true men, the players are men, the coaching staff are men, and all of Egypt are men. Be happy for your national team; your national team are heroes, true men, and their performance today shocked the whole world. So I thank them, and if Allah wills it, the future will be better for all of us, if Allah wills it.

I want to know whether the tears you shed are tears of sadness or tears from feeling unfairly treated.

Both. We suffered an injustice today, and everyone saw it. I did not want to talk about such things. After we were leading 2-0, right after the score became 2-0, everything turned against us, and everything went wrong for us. I do not even know why the second goal was disallowed; I cannot see any reason for it to have been ruled out. But we have to find a solution to avoid conceding goals again. The referee even wanted to disallow another chipped goal of mine, but thanks to Allah, Allah did not let him succeed. No, I am proud of you; I am proud of all the players. You are true men. You shocked the whole world, thanks to Allah, thanks to Allah.

First, as Egyptian journalists, we thank all of you, from coach Hossam Hassan to all the players. We are proud of you, but please tell me: after the 75th minute, did the players feel that the game was over? Especially since we were still leading until the 78th minute?

No, not at all; we never thought the game was over. We knew very well that we were playing against the world champions, and even before the game started, everyone knew we were facing a strong national team, one of the favorites to win the championship. However, if they had won purely through their own efforts, it would have been very different for them. Until I left the field, that was not what I saw. Everyone did well; all the men put in effort and sweat. This is Allah's arrangement, and the result is Allah's destiny, so thanks to Allah.

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