Switzerland Blasts VAR Red That Sent Off Embolo, as Argentina Won 3-1 in Extra Time

Q: How did a new VAR rule for 2026 lead to the World Cup's first 'mistaken identity' red card?

It happened because the 2026 World Cup expanded VAR’s powers to review incidents involving a potential second yellow card, and that review exposed a case of the referee initially punishing the wrong player. In Switzerland’s quarterfinal against Argentina, referee Joao Pedro Silva Pinheiro first booked Argentina’s Leandro Paredes for a foul on Breel Embolo. Under the new 2026 VAR protocol, officials were allowed to intervene because the incident could lead to a second-yellow situation and because “mistaken identity” is reviewable when the wrong player is sanctioned. After reviewing the footage, VAR concluded Paredes had not fouled Embolo and that Embolo had simulated contact. Pinheiro then went to the monitor, withdrew Paredes’s yellow card, and instead cautioned Embolo for diving. Because Embolo had already been booked earlier, that new caution became his second yellow and automatically a red card. That is why the dismissal was described as the tournament’s first “mistaken identity” red card: the red did not come from a direct sending-off offense, but from VAR correcting the referee’s original identification of the offender and reassigning the yellow card to the player who had actually committed the offense. Most rules analysts said the decision was harsh in effect but correct under the updated VAR framework.

Q: How can a player who is initially awarded a foul end up being sent off for the same incident?

A player can be sent off after initially being awarded a foul if VAR shows the referee got the incident wrong and the “fouled” player actually committed simulation or another bookable offense. That is what happened with Switzerland’s Breel Embolo. On the field, the referee believed Argentina’s Leandro Paredes had fouled him and showed Paredes a yellow card. But VAR reviewed the challenge and judged that Embolo had simulated the contact rather than been fouled. After watching the replay, the referee reversed his original call, cancelled Paredes’s yellow card, and instead booked Embolo for diving. Because Embolo had already been cautioned earlier in the match, that new yellow card became his second yellow, which automatically meant a red card and dismissal. The key legal mechanism is VAR’s power to correct clear errors in reviewable situations, including mistaken identity and, at this World Cup, second-yellow-card incidents. The referee remains the final decision-maker, but once video evidence shows the original foul call was wrong, he can fully overturn it: remove the foul, cancel the opponent’s card, and punish the player who tried to deceive him. So the same incident can move from “foul won” to “simulation punished” if replay evidence shows the player was not the victim but the offender.

3 articles · Updated · New York Post · Jul 12

Five minutes after Dan Ndoye made it 1-1, Breel Embolo was sent off on a second yellow for simulation after VAR reversed an initial booking for Leandro Paredes.
That dismissal — the first at this World Cup under the mistaken-identity rule — left Switzerland furious because Embolo could only be booked once Paredes had first been shown yellow.
Granit Xhaka said the red card "changed our game," while Remo Freuler called it a "disaster" and coach Murat Yakin said the rule was "absolutely incomprehensible."
Argentina, headed for penalties before the 72nd-minute turning point, pulled away 3-1 in extra time through Julian Alvarez and Lisandro Martinez.