That the English goalie did not receive a red card for a possible foul against Prince Adu as last man is one thing. Not good. That Ezri Konsa was not sanctioned with a penalty and a card for fouling Prince Adu in the box is worse. He did not touch the ball, Prince Adu fell. VAR did not even intervene. But that Bellingham was not shown the red card for covering his mouth while talking to a rival shows that this rule is bonkers (and also that some teams are more team-y than others):
In this instance, the referee considered that the exchange with the Ghana player (Ayew) was cordial and that there was no evidence of offensive behaviour; consequently, the English player was not shown a red card.
So remember: cover your mouth cordially. Smile, even if the hand covers the smile. Be black, so you cannot be accused of racism (homophobia, perhaps? they pulled this card -ha! - against Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni if I remember correctly, although Vinicius is black and no suspect of being gay).
Anyway: Miguel Almirón covered his mouth in uncordial fashion and is not dark enough. An unusual way to fail the paper bag test. FIFA confirmed on Tuesday that Almirón will miss Paraguay’s final group stage match against Australia on Thursday. World football’s governing body stated that the decision is final.