Switzerland manager Murat Yakin said his side’s World Cup quarter-final was destroyed by the new mistaken identity rule that led to Breel Embolo being sent off in their 3-1 defeat to Argentina.
Embolo was shown a second yellow card when, initially, Leandro Paredes had been cautioned for a challenge on him – only for referee Joao Pinheiro to review the incident and conclude the Switzerland striker had dived.
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But Yakin argued it should never have got that far by saying that Paredes should not have been booked for his challenge and that Embolo was left “shattered” by his red card.
Switzerland had levelled through Dan Ndoye minutes before Embolo was dismissed and went to lose to extra-time goals from Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez.
And Yakin said: “The VAR and referee, the fact they introduced such a rule is unnecessary and I try to put it in very kind words but I think it is extremely hurtful. We are not going to go to the semi-finals but I think we deserved to be there.
“We were punished for a rule that is completely unacceptable. I don’t understand. It is very painful we are eliminated that way. I don’t think we deserved it and in my opinion our boys are the real heroes.
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“The referee makes that one decision that he interfered, it is completely misunderstandable. That is a situation that happened many times previously. He awarded a yellow card. This rule destroyed our game today.
“There was definitely no reason to award that yellow card, I don’t understand it, it was a harmless situation, he should have let the ball freely.”
Yakin refused to blame Embolo after Switzerland’s first quarter-final in 72 years ended with Argentina instead booking a date with England in the last four.
He added: “I don’t blame him at all. That would be absurd. Obviously, he is shattered. He couldn’t help the team today and it hurts him and us. I think it was a referee mistake.”
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