Egypt's national football team said a Dallas police officer pushed one of their players and a team director at the squad's hotel on Friday, just before the team played Australia in a World Cup round-of-32 match.
According to Al Jazeera, the incident involved player Trezeguet and team director Ibrahim Hassan, who were attempting to take a photograph with a fan at the hotel. Egypt's national team media officer Mohamed Morad described what happened to the Reuters news agency. "A man and his son went to take a photo with Ibrahim Hassan and Trezeguet, and the national team's director approved the request," Morad said. "However, a security officer intervened and pushed the fan, as well as Trezeguet and Ibrahim Hassan, even though the player and the team director were in their designated area. Ibrahim then asked the security officer to deal with the fan in a normal manner."
The Dallas Police Department said it was aware of a video circulating on social media showing a heated interaction involving one of its officers. In a statement posted to social media, the department said it had responded to the hotel at the request of hotel security regarding an individual without event credentials attempting to gain access. "It was later learned that the individuals weren't displaying credentials properly, which is a requirement," the statement read. "The situation was resolved on scene, and DPD met with representatives of the team to address their concerns. The matter has since been resolved."
Despite the incident, Egypt went on to defeat Australia in a penalty shootout later Friday in Dallas, winning 4-2 on penalties after the match ended 1-1. It was Egypt's first ever win in a World Cup knockout stage. The result set up a last-16 tie against either Argentina or Cape Verde.
