Socceroo Jackson Irvine has backed the decision by Fifa to send players off for covering their mouths when they speak, after Paraguay winger Miguel Almir\u00f3n was given a historic red card against Turkey.<\/p>\n
The Socceroos and Paraguay face a showdown for second place in the group at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium on Thursday (Friday AEST). If either team loses they will face a torturous wait to find out if they will progress as one of the eight third-placed teams across the 12 groups.<\/p>\n
Almir\u00f3n was the first player sent off under a rule introduced by Fifa for this tournament to address the trend of footballers covering their mouth when confronting opponents. In a boost for the Socceroos, he will be suspended for his team\u2019s final Group D clash.<\/p>\n
Irvine, a member of Fifpro\u2019s global player council, said the players had been given fair warning, and the rule was justified. \u201cI know it\u2019s going to be controversial in some ways because we don\u2019t know the nature of what [the comment] was, but when you look at what\u2019s happened in the past, especially around what happened with Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior, I think it takes everything out of the equation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The highest profile example of the controversial conduct was earlier this year when Benfica\u2019s Gianluca Prestianni made comments to Real Madrid\u2019s J\u00fanior while covering his mouth with his shirt.<\/p>\n
The referee did not send Prestianni off in the Champions League clash, and the on-field behaviour could not be assessed using video evidence, but he was subsequently banned for six matches for using homophobic language<\/a>.<\/p>\n The body responsible for the laws of the game, the International Football Association Board, approved the introduction of a red card for such conduct in April.<\/p>\n Irvine said Almir\u00f3n can have no complaints. \u201cIf you\u2019re saying something to someone that you don\u2019t want to be seen, then I think it\u2019s safe to say that if you can\u2019t be seen saying it, then it shouldn\u2019t be said,\u201d he said. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s a clear line on the rule, and we were all told about it, so it is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Paraguay\u2019s Miguel Almir\u00f3n reacts after he received a red card against Turkey. Photograph: Jeff Chiu\/AP<\/p>\n Despite the absence of Almir\u00f3n, Paraguay enter the fixture with momentum after their 1-0 victory over Turkey<\/a>. But they will need to defeat the Socceroos to leapfrog them into second place in Group D. Third place may also scrape into the knockouts depending on results in other groups.<\/p>\n