An unprecedented refereeing incident in the quarterfinal of the 2026 World Cup between Argentina and Switzerland sparked a wave of widespread controversy over whether the intervention of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to send off the Swiss striker Breel Embolo represented a "favor" to Argentina, after the Portuguese referee João Pinheiro withdrew the yellow card from the Argentine Leandro Paredes and gave it to Embolo instead, resulting in the latter being sent off in the 72nd minute with the score tied 1-1.
Embolo left the pitch in Kansas City in tears, surrounded by his teammates who tried to console him, in a touching scene that reflected the magnitude of the shock the Swiss player experienced after his sending off.
The controversial incident began in the 69th minute, when referee Pinheiro showed a yellow card to Paredes for a foul against Embolo, but the Video Assistant Referee room intervened unexpectedly, issuing an urgent alert that the card had been given to the wrong player, prompting the referee to go to the screen to review the incident.
After reviewing the replay, Pinheiro made a shocking decision to cancel the yellow card received by Paredes, ruling that Embolo had dived and simulated the foul, and instead issued him a second yellow card following a previous caution he had received in the 44th minute, resulting in his automatic sending off with a red card, at a critical moment that forced the Swiss team to play with 10 men and without their star striker.
Why did VAR intervene?
🟥 Portuguese referee João Pinheiro shows the red card to Swiss star Breel Embolo after receiving two yellow cards! The decision was made after using video technology (72).#WorldCup2026 pic.twitter.com/JfiPScxWGJ@beINSPORTS
The sudden intervention of the Video Assistant Referee raises questions about the real motives behind this decision, especially since second yellow cards are not usually subject to VAR review, and the technology cannot recommend a sending-off in the case of receiving a second yellow card.
However, the door that was opened in this incident was the "mistaken identity" door, where the card was shown to the wrong player, and this assumption allows the referee to correct the card and reassign it to the correct player, according to international laws that stipulate that VAR can only intervene in 4 cases: a goal or no goal, a penalty, a direct red card, and mistaken identity of the sanctioned player.
"Favor" or application of the law?
Although the decision appears technically consistent with the laws, the timing and surrounding circumstances raised widespread doubts about whether it represented a "favor" to Argentina, especially since the incident came at a decisive moment with the score tied, and Paredes escaped the caution while Embolo paid a heavy price with the sending off.
In short, if Pinheiro had not punished Paredes with a yellow card in the first place, VAR would not have been able to intervene, but by issuing the wrong card, the door was opened to review the procedure that ended Embolo's match and decisively affected the course of the game, which ended with Argentina's victory thanks to goals from Mac Allister and Ndoye.
