Jackson Irvine backs FIFA's 'cover mouth' red card rule after Almirón dismissal

Socceroo Jackson Irvine has backed the decision by Fifa to send players off for covering their mouths when they speak, after Paraguay winger Miguel Almirón was given a historic red card against Turkey.

The Socceroos and Paraguay face a showdown for second place in the group at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium on Thursday (Friday AEST). If either team loses they will face a torturous wait to find out if they will progress as one of the eight third-placed teams across the 12 groups.

Almirón was the first player sent off under a rule introduced by Fifa for this tournament to address the trend of footballers covering their mouth when confronting opponents. In a boost for the Socceroos, he will be suspended for his team’s final Group D clash.

Irvine, a member of Fifpro’s global player council, said the players had been given fair warning, and the rule was justified. “I know it’s going to be controversial in some ways because we don’t know the nature of what [the comment] was, but when you look at what’s happened in the past, especially around what happened with Vinícius Júnior, I think it takes everything out of the equation.”

The highest profile example of the controversial conduct was earlier this year when Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni made comments to Real Madrid’s Júnior while covering his mouth with his shirt.

The referee did not send Prestianni off in the Champions League clash, and the on-field behaviour could not be assessed using video evidence, but he was subsequently banned for six matches for using homophobic language.

The body responsible for the laws of the game, the International Football Association Board, approved the introduction of a red card for such conduct in April.

Irvine said Almirón can have no complaints. “If you’re saying something to someone that you don’t want to be seen, then I think it’s safe to say that if you can’t be seen saying it, then it shouldn’t be said,” he said. “For me, it’s a clear line on the rule, and we were all told about it, so it is what it is.”

Despite the absence of Almirón, Paraguay enter the fixture with momentum after their 1-0 victory over Turkey. But they will need to defeat the Socceroos to leapfrog them into second place in Group D. Third place may also scrape into the knockouts depending on results in other groups.

Australia has never beaten a South American side at a World Cup, and Irvine is expecting their opponents to be physical, skilful and unpredictable. He said it will be “just a totally different type of game” compared with their matches against Turkey and the USA, and the Paraguay players have “incredible individual quality”.

“Watching Paraguay against Turkey last night, there was a sequence towards the end of the game that sums up their style of football,” he said. “It was with about five minutes to go, and they had won the ball back high up the pitch, and they had a chance to go to the corner. The guy just whips the cross into the back stick with three guys, and they try and score again with 10 men and they’re 1-0 up. Expect the unexpected. I guess that’s probably the best way to put it.”

Irvine said the Socceroos need to start better against Paraguay than they did against the USA. “The main thing that we have to get better from the first half is just being able to come into the duels and arrive – in the physical side of the game – a little bit better, and ride through those difficult moments,” he said.

“We’re playing against top teams at the highest level, but they’re going to have moments where you’re going to have to defend and we’re going to have to suffer and you’ve got to find ways to get through that.”