Portugal vs DR Congo

Anyone thinking SFP for the Bernardo Silva caution on about 12 mins? Probably not quite enough for the VAR to recommend a review, but I think the on-field call should have been red. Would have like to have seen a dissent caution for Ronaldo too, but porcine aerial manoeuvres springs to mind.

ARF said:

Anyone thinking SFP for the Bernardo Silva caution on about 12 mins?

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Never at the modern World Cup. Have to remember there hasn't been a SFP red since 2014. FIFA is very happy with that being a yellow at this tournament.

World Cup or not it ticks all the boxes for me - lunging in at speed, off the ground, straight leg at moment of contact, point of contact is studs into ankle/achilles.

That's never going to get given, especially as the defender's foot was off the floor. I can't remember a tournament with so few cautions and sendings off (opening game obviously an outlier), feels to me that FIFA have told the officials to use discretion and common sense.

I think a red card would have been a big surprise tbh. I think maybe what saves him is that the congo players leg was also slightly off the ground and that reduces the danger level.

I did like the caution procedure actually too. Very clear in his mind what he’d seen.

Yes, there’s some speed in the challenge and contact with the studs to the ankle. However, the foot is not planted and the force is not particularly high. I reckon yellow (which is unusual for me). On a side note, the referee impressed me in the highlights I’ve seen. He seems more confident than some of the other referees this tournament. He also didn’t spend a couple seconds fiddling trying to get his card out (why anyone uses referee wallets I’ll never understand).