VAR corrige amonestación en Estados Unidos-Paraguay, castigan a Almirón por simular

The first disciplinary correction of the 2026 World Cup did more than rewrite one booking. In Los Angeles Stadium, the VAR turned a yellow card from Tim Ream into a caution for Miguel Almirón for simulation, a clean demonstration of FIFA and IFAB’s mistaken-identity rule.

Danny Makkelie had initially booked Ream for the second-half incident involving Almirón, but Del Cerro Grande, working as VAR, prompted the review and the card was reassigned. The call mattered because it did not reopen the full foul sequence. It corrected the identity of the player punished, which is exactly the narrow lane IFAB allows when the referee cautions or sends off the wrong man in a disciplinary incident.

That distinction is central to how the tournament’s new review standard is being applied in real time. IFAB’s protocol says the VAR can automatically check for mistaken identity, and the 2026-27 law updates explicitly broadened video review for red cards tied to a second yellow that is clearly wrong. In practice, that makes this World Cup a showcase not just for goals and penalties, but for the system’s ability to clean up administrative errors that can alter matches, suspensions and player availability.

The match itself underlined the stakes. The United States beat Paraguay 3-1 on June 12, 2026, in the Group D opener at Los Angeles Stadium, giving the host nation a winning start in FIFA’s 23rd World Cup, the first to feature 48 teams and three host countries: Canada, Mexico and the United States. Paraguay was back at the tournament for the first time in 16 years, and Almirón entered as one of its most recognizable names, with FIFA having highlighted him before the tournament as a figure of the squad.

For Almirón, the irony was immediate. The Atlanta United midfielder had hoped to reach the World Cup stage in Atlanta, where he plays his club soccer, but instead his name became the center of the competition’s most instructive VAR moment so far. For coaches and players, the message is straightforward: the video review system is no longer limited to decisive goals or penalty-box calls. It can now reach into discipline when the wrong player is punished, and that means tighter scrutiny, fewer tolerated errors and a more interventionist tournament from here on out.