🟥 Embolo row: Argentina aided or dive? Replays divide social media 🤯 | OneFootball

A decision destined to divide opinions. In the 72nd minute of Argentina-Switzerland, with the score at 1-1 and the Swiss enjoying their best spell of the match, Breel Embolo was sent off for a second yellow after a VAR review.

Want to stay up to date on everything happening in the USA, Mexico and Canada? Don’t forget to bookmark the World Cup! To follow the tournament, search for "World Cup" on OneFootball and click the star next to it so you don’t miss a single story!

Referee João Pinheiro had initially penalized Paredes, but the footage completely changed everything: the yellow card for the Argentine was rescinded, the Swiss forward was booked for simulation, and the result was a red card.

Murat Yakin’s side held on until extra time before surrendering to goals from Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez, which sealed the final 3-1 scoreline.

On social media, however, the match is still not over: accusations of favoritism, opposing interpretations of the rules, and one question that has gone viral. Was Embolo’s sending-off really the right call?

💥 What happened between Embolo and Paredes

Switzerland had just equalized in the 67th minute through Dan Ndoye, wiping out Argentina’s lead scored by Alexis Mac Allister. Five minutes later, Embolo, who had already been booked in the first half for a late challenge on Paredes, tried to get past the Argentine midfielder and went down after the challenge.

Pinheiro blew for a foul and showed a yellow card to Paredes. VAR then called the referee over to the monitor: according to the officials’ reconstruction, Embolo had started going down before any possible contact, therefore trying to win a free kick through simulation. The Portuguese referee revoked Paredes’ booking and showed a second yellow to the Swiss player, who left the pitch in tears.

✅ Why VAR was allowed to intervene

The review was not a protocol mistake. New provisions approved by IFAB in 2026 allow VAR to intervene on red cards resulting from a clearly incorrect second yellow and in cases of “mistaken identity,” when the referee punishes the wrong player or even the wrong team.

In the Kansas City case, the officiating team deemed that it was not Paredes who committed the infringement, but Embolo who simulated. The rules therefore allowed the initial decision to be overturned, the punishment reversed, and the striker booked. From a procedural point of view, the intervention was therefore permitted.

The real debate concerns the technical assessment: was the fall an obvious dive, or simply a normal attempt to avoid Paredes’ challenge? The footage shows Embolo losing his balance before the more significant contact, but the subjective nature of the incident is precisely what fueled the protests.

🔎 Replay analysis is split: correct decision or VAR too intrusive?

Several international analyses judged the sending-off correct from a regulatory standpoint.

Christina Unkel, former FIFA referee and CBS Sports analyst, explained that the decision is consistent with the Miguel Almiron precedent in United States-Paraguay, but also warned: "We are entering the zone of re-refereeing the match."

The risk is that VAR no longer merely corrects decisive errors, but ends up reassessing subjective incidents in midfield as well.

The Almiron precedent had already divided the refereeing world. On that occasion, VAR had removed a booking for American Tim Ream and punished the Paraguayan for simulation.

Pierluigi Collina also commented on the incident, though with a different view from the previous one: “From a refereeing point of view, this was the correct decision. The replay clearly shows that there was no contact from Paredes.”

😡 Switzerland erupts: «This rule ruined the match»

Murat Yakin did not challenge only the card, but the whole principle used to arrive at the sending-off: «It was a harmless situation. This rule ruined the match». The Swiss coach nonetheless explicitly ruled out any conspiracy or systematic preferential treatment toward Argentina.

Manuel Akanji was even harsher: «I had never played in such a one-sided match». The defender pointed out that Argentina had received no yellow cards in the first 90 minutes, while Remo Freuler called the decision «a disaster».

Granit Xhaka said Embolo was devastated and could not understand why he had been sent off.

🤯 'Argentina helped' VS 'obvious dive' on social media

Two sides immediately formed on social media. On one side were those who called it a “rigged” World Cup, linking the incident to previous refereeing controversies that had accompanied Argentina’s run.

On the other, many users considered Embolo’s attempt to exaggerate the fall obvious, arguing that simulation should always be punished with the same severity.

The timing amplified every suspicion: Switzerland had just made it 1-1 and was causing La Albiceleste real problems.

✍️ A sending-off already in the history books

Embolo became the first player ever sent off at a World Cup through this new interpretation of “mistaken identity”: it was only the second time in the tournament that a booking had been overturned under this protocol, after the Almiron-Ream case.

The rule and its interpretation have divided public opinion and sparked huge controversy.

VAR was allowed to intervene and the second yellow is fully justified under the rules, but it remains debatable whether a fall can be judged as simulation rather than accidental. A fine line that can determine not only a single incident but the outcome of a match with enormous weight, such as a World Cup quarter-final.

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

📸 Lars Baron - 2026 Getty Images