Argentina has qualified for World Cup semi-finals after a 3-1 over Switzerland that was, once again, marked by controversy and refereeing decisions, including an almost unheard one: a player has been sent off for receiving a second yellow card as a result of a new rule introduced this World Cup: the mistaken identity.
The player was Breel Embolo, from Switzerland: a foul was initially given to an Argentina player, Leandro Paredes. But after a VAR review, referee Joao Pinheiro found that Embolo had actually dived, and that Paredes had made no foul. He was given a yellow card, which was the second of the match, and therefore left his team with ten players, just five minutes after Switzerland had levelled the scored 1-1. Embolo left the pitch crying, disconsolate.
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This rule was introduced International Football Association Board (IFAB) and comes specifically as a request from FIFA head of referee Pierluigi Collina, according to BBC, and says that if a player is given a yellow or red card for a foul, but it is later revealed that the foul was actually committed by the opposition team, the other team is booked.
So, what was punished by the referees was not the dive, which is not an offence worthy of a yellow card, but the fact that the referee made a mistake and originally handed a foul to Paredes. When he later found out that Paredes had not made a foul, by closely following the rule he had to book the other player, resulting in Switzerland being left with ten players.
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Ben Jacobs, reporter for GiveMeSport, says this rule is problematic because what this rule does is punish the teams for the mistakes by the referees. "They didn't mix up players. They just made a bad call on a regular foul and wrongly handed out a yellow card".
This is the second time this rule is used this World Cup: first time was in a USA vs. Paraguay match, with Paraguay benefitting and USA defender Tim Rean seeing a yellow card after the referee initially called a foul on Miguel Almirón.