Overview
- Referee Ivan Barton, after a VAR review, showed Miguel Almirón a straight red for putting his hand over his mouth while speaking to Turkey’s Mert Müldür in the Paraguay v Türkiye match, a decision reported across major outlets.
- The dismissal, applied on Friday, means Almirón is suspended for Paraguay’s decisive final Group D match against Australia and will miss the game under standard competition discipline.
- Paraguay held on to win 1-0 despite going down to 10 men, a result that eliminated Türkiye from the tournament and left Paraguay still able to advance depending on their final match.
- FIFA referee chief Pierluigi Collina has said the rule targets confrontational situations and allows mouth-covering in friendly exchanges, but former referees and coaches warn the straight-red sanction may be too severe and hard for players to break from habit.
- The law was adopted after a February Champions League incident involving Gianluca Prestianni and Vinícius Júnior, and Almirón’s sending off is the first major test of how referees, VAR and teams will apply and adapt to the rule at the World Cup.