Uncertain World Cup for Paraguay’s Almiron, sent off for covering his mouth

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.”