P-R-O-T-A-G-O-N-I-S-T-A-! Wilton Pereira Sampaio goes viral in 🇲🇽 v 🇿🇦 | OneFootball

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P-R-O-T-A-G-O-N-I-S-T-A-! Wilton Pereira Sampaio goes viral in 🇲🇽 v 🇿🇦 | OneFootball

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·11 June 2026

P-R-O-T-A-G-O-N-I-S-T-A-! Wilton Pereira Sampaio goes viral in 🇲🇽 v 🇿🇦

Article image:P-R-O-T-A-G-O-N-I-S-T-A-! Wilton Pereira Sampaio goes viral in 🇲🇽 v 🇿🇦

Social media has spoken: Wilton Pereira Sampaio was the "man of the match" after the Mexico versus South Africa match that kicked off the FIFA World Cup.

The Brazilian referee secured a "hat-trick" of send-offs in the tournament opener.

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He was called by VAR before leaving Bafana Bafana with nine men, and then handed out the third red card in stoppage time. 

He had already drawn attention at the 2022 World Cup during England vs France — who remembers Bellingham's reaction? — and went viral again. 

Check out some of the reactions below. 

HE'S FROM BRAZIL, DAMN IT! 

And there’s no doubt about it, okay? 

Unforgettable!

This one’s easy, man! 

MAN OF THE MATCH!

Nothing less than that! 

Who agrees?

And there would still be a third red card

Was it really that bad?

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Article image:P-R-O-T-A-G-O-N-I-S-T-A-! Wilton Pereira Sampaio goes viral in 🇲🇽 v 🇿🇦

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

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