{"id":748538,"date":"2026-06-20T09:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T09:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/748538\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T09:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T09:16:12","slug":"massive-twist-for-socceroos-after-rival-banned-from-next-match-at-world-cup-over-illegal-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/748538\/","title":{"rendered":"Massive twist for Socceroos after rival banned from next match at World Cup over illegal act"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Socceroos<\/a>‘ chances of advancing at the FIFA World Cup<\/a> have been given a massive boost after Paraguay player Miguel Almiron was sent off in their clash with Turkiye on Friday night (local time). The Socceroos suffered a 2-0 loss to USA<\/a> in the first game of the day, leaving them on three points ahead of their final group game.<\/p>\n

Their third and final group game is against Paraguay next Friday, and both will be fighting for a spot in the next round when they collide. But the Socceroos’ hopes received a major boost in the Paraguay and Turkiye game when Almiron was shown a red card.<\/p>\n

\"Miguel<\/p>\n

Miguel Almir\u00f3n is now banned from Paraguay’s clash with the Socceroos. Image: Getty<\/p>\n

Under tournament rules, players are automatically suspended for the following game if they receive a red card. It means Paraguay will be missing one of their key players against Australia, which will hamper their chances and boost the Socceroos.<\/p>\n

Paraguay player caught out by new rule at World Cup<\/p>\n

Almiron fell foul of a new rule for this World Cup that made it illegal for players to cover their mouths during a confrontational situation. In a bid to stamp out derogatory language, FIFA made it illegal for players to cover their mouths with their hands or jerseys while speaking to opponents.<\/p>\n

FIFA has stated: “At the discretion of the competition organiser, any player covering their mouth in a confrontational situation with an opponent may be sanctioned with a red card.”<\/p>\n

The rule was introduced after Argentinian player Gianluca Prestianni verbally abused Brazil’s Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior while covering his mouth during a game between Benfica and Real Madrid in the Champions League. Prestianni was hit with a six-game suspension, which includes the World Cup.<\/p>\n

\"Miguel<\/p>\n

Miguel Almiron leaves the pitch after receiving a red card in Paraguay’s game against Turkiye at the World Cup.<\/p>\n

(Soccrates Images)<\/p>\n

Almiron covered his mouth with his hand while talking to a Turkish opponent, which was picked up when the referee asked for a VAR check. Almiron was subsequently given a red card and banned from the Socceroos game.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the SBS coverage, former Socceroos player Tommy Oar said it was “great news” for Australia. Another pundit on the panel stated: “There’s only one reason you’d cover your mouth and that’s to say something derogatory.”<\/p>\n

Former Ireland player Clinton Morrison said on BBC: “He knows the rules, he shouldn’t have done it. And the fact he removed his hand so fast after he did, I think he knew what he had done.”<\/p>\n

The Socceroos will advance to the knockout stages if they finish in the top two of their group. However they can still progress as the third-place finisher depending on other results from different groups.<\/p>\n

“We know we’ve still got a good chance to get through,” Socceroos coach Tony Popovic said. “It’s in our hands.”<\/p>\n

He<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Socceroos‘ chances of advancing at the FIFA World Cup have been given a massive boost after Paraguay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":748539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[359689,64,63,11308,266230,596,111676,26779,359688,7104,22455,42150,85,356113,13195,69802,21418],"class_list":["post-748538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-almiron","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brazil","tag-final-group-game","tag-football","tag-gianluca-prestianni","tag-ireland","tag-miguel-almiron","tag-paraguay","tag-real-madrid","tag-socceroos","tag-sports","tag-tommy-oar","tag-turkiye","tag-vinicius-junior","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}