World Cup 2026: VAR makes history of ‘mistaken identity’ as odd booking confuses fans

The United States opened their World Cup campaign with a fine win – but it wasn’t the sequence of events that had everyone at Sophie Stadium scratching their heads when the video assistant referee (VAR) made history.

The hosts were comfortably leading Paraguay 3-0 at the start of Group D play.

The 38-year-old veteran defender, Tim Ream, was shown a yellow card for a ‘challenging’ challenge on Miguel Almiron, who took the penalty kick.

After the penalty kick, the Dutchman’s Danny Mackelly was sent to the screen by VAR to overturn the decision, something the officials had not been allowed to do in the past.

After Rhyme’s warning was overruled, McKay instead dived into ex-Newcastle United striker Almiron in a clear dive.

It was the first VAR intervention for mistaken identity at the World Cup, although perhaps not used in the way most expected.

FIFA has introduced a number of legal reforms to the tournament, with referee chief Pierluigi Collina particularly questioning mistaken identity.

The rule is that if a player is yellow carded or sent off – but the offense was committed by the opposing team – the decision can be overturned.

Another new rule is that second yellow cards leading to a red card can be reviewed, but not first yellow cards. Judge McKelley was able to overturn the decision by using the mistaken identity rule.

The officials allowed the game to restart before it was stopped, much to the confusion of the fans, and once the game resumed, it was impossible to go back.

Former Everton and Wales defender Ashley Williams told BBC Sport: “They let them take the penalty, which was surprising but the right decision.

It’s fair game, but it’s the first time we’ve seen it.

Commenting on BBC Sport, former England midfielder Danny Murphy added: “It would be nice to see any tweaking of the rules and diving getting more penalties.”

America, led by former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino He won the game 4-1 In front of a home crowd of great joy to start their campaign with a win.

Following an own goal by Damian Bobadilla, Folarin Balogin scored twice to give the US a 3-0 lead.

In doing so, he became the second American player to score more than once in a World Cup game.

Paraguay’s late substitute Giovanni Reyna curled home a 20-yard shot with the outside of his right foot before Brazil native Mauricio scored.