Swiss fume as VAR gets Embolo red card for diving
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Breel Embolo was sent off in the second half via VAR in Switzerland's 3-1 extra-time quarterfinal loss to Argentina; video review showed he was falling before Leandro Paredes made contact, and because Embolo already had a yellow, the simulation call became a red.
- Murat Yakin called the decision "absolutely incomprehensible" and said it came moments after Dan Ndoye's equalizer had handed Switzerland the momentum, with attacking substitutions already planned.
- Granit Xhaka said "the red card changed our game" and that the dressing room was "very quiet, disappointed," while Nico Elvedi added: "I just don't understand how VAR can make that kind of decision."
- Argentina sealed the win in extra time with late goals from Julián Álvarez and Lautaro Martínez, scoring twice after Embolo's dismissal forced Switzerland to defend a 1-1 tie with 10 men.
- Embolo became only the fourth player in 60 years of World Cup history to receive a second yellow for simulation, joining Mexico's Luis Pérez (2006 vs. Portugal), Ghana's Asamoah Gyan (2006 vs. Brazil) and Italy's Francesco Totti (2002 vs. South Korea).
- The red card was only possible because the "mistaken identity" protocol let VAR intervene after Paredes was booked for the tackle — Yakin argued the referee first made an error on Paredes and then "corrected his own mistake against us."
Why it matters: The red card flipped a 1-1 quarterfinal that Switzerland say they were controlling into a 3-1 extra-time exit, and the chain of events exposes a quirk in VAR's rulebook: a referee booking the wrong player for a foul that may not have been a foul opened the door for video review to upgrade Embolo's yellow — a mechanism Yakin says "destroyed our game."
