Paraguay's Miguel Almiron First Player Red-Carded Under New FIFA Rule

It was unclear what Paraguay’s Miguel Almiron said to Turkiye’s Mert Muldur under the cover of his hand, but it may have been his last gesture in this World Cup.

On Friday, Almiron became the first ⁠player to be sent off at the World Cup for violating a strict new rule that forbids the covering of mouths during on-field confrontations, leaving Paraguay with 10 men to fend off an entire half of unrelenting Turkish attacks.

The FIFA-proposed law, approved by the International Football Association Board in April, came after ⁠Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni was accused of making discriminatory slurs to Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr under the cover of his shirt during a Champions League game that the referee halted, invoking UEFA’s anti-discrimination protocol.

Prestianni, who denied the accusation, was given a six-match suspension by UEFA for discriminatory conduct that was deemed homophobic.

In an ill-tempered match fraught with heated exchanges, Almiron’s red card before half-time was eclipsed by Paraguay’s stunning 1-0 victory in the San Francisco Bay Area, which kept their faltering World Cup ‌alive and condemned Turkiye to a miserable early exit.

The dismissal for the former Newcastle United player means he will miss Paraguay’s decisive final Group D match against Australia on June 22.

Almiron made a post on Instagram of his team celebrating their 1-0 win, but made no mention of his dismissal.

“I want to thank the effort of my teammates today, giving everything in each ball, thank you, thank you, thank you, I’m proud to be part of this squad,” he posted alongside an image of ecstatic Paraguay players piling on top of each other at the final whistle.

“I know Miggy personally, so I think it’s more habit with Miggy,” said England defender Dan Burn, who played with Almiron at Newcastle. “I’ve seen him do that ⁠a lot over the years in games, and I do think it’s one of those things where … it’s going to ⁠take a little while for some players to get used to that.

“The refs spoke about it at the [pre-World Cup] referees meeting, so everyone knew the rules, so it wasn’t a massive surprise, but it is obviously something that’s quite hard to get out of the habit of doing.”

‘Slaves to the rulebook’

Paraguay coach Gustavo Alfaro, who hailed the fighting spirit of his players, ⁠said he accepted the rules had been applied.

“The first thing I told him when he came into the dressing room was, ‘Change that face, we won, don’t feel guilty about anything. What happened brought out even more of your teammates’ ⁠fighting spirit,'” he said.

Alfaro has been on a mission to shield his players from the heavy ⁠criticism endured after their opening game 4-1 trouncing by cohosts the United States, who are now group winners.

“He was in a lot of pain because he felt that, for a player of his experience, those things can’t happen,” he said of Almiron.

“But it happened. That’s it. We’re here to support him, to carry him, to push him.”

The new measure does have exceptions, however, such as ‌allowing players to cover their mouths during friendly conversations with club teammates on opposing teams.

The rule was among several introduced ahead of the showpiece event, including five-second countdowns on throw-ins and goal kicks, time limits for substituted players to exit the field, and players made to stay on the sidelines ‌for ‌one minute after receiving on-field medical treatment.

Alfaro said some of the new rules could hurt the game, and a yellow card for Almiron would have sufficed.

“The fear I have is that football loses its essence,” he added. “Let’s not become slaves to the rulebook.”