“They Don’t Want to See Argentina Lose” – Giants Star Slams FIFA for Allegedly Favoring Lionel Messi in World Cup

Argentina won their FIFA 2026 World Cup quarterfinal match against a ten man Switzerland team, after forward Embolo was sent off due to mistaken identity.

“They Don’t Want to See Argentina Lose” – Giants Star Slams FIFA for Allegedly Favoring Lionel Messi in World Cup

Lionel Messi and Jermaine Eluemunor inside the circle (Image via Sky Sports/Yahoo Sports)

A case of ‘mistaken identity’ changed the trajectory of the Argentina-Switzerland game at Kansas City Stadium on Saturday. Shouts of FIFA favoring the defending World Champions are intensifying once again.

Just five minutes after Switzerland had drawn level with Argentina in the second half, the match referee Joao Pinheiro showed a red card to Swiss forward Breel Embolo. Embolo received a red card as a result of a new rule implemented for the World Cup.

The incident happened when Argentina defender Leandro Paredes appeared to foul Embolo. Pinheiro gave Paredes a yellow card. However, after VAR reviewed the tackle from multiple angles, it did not see Paredes make contact with Embolo.

Pinheiro reversed his decision. He rescinded the card he had shown to Paredes and gave a yellow card to Embolo for diving. As Embolo had already seen a yellow card earlier in the game, Pinheiro sent him off.

New York Giants veteran offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor didn’t seem to agree with the referee’s decision and expressed his disappointment on X.

Lol Argentina, I get [the] guy shouldn’t of [have] faked the foul but sending him off. They don’t want to see Argentina lose, and it’s getting so obvious now.

Eluemunor tweeted
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Why was Embolo shown a red card, and what is the ‘mistaken identity’ rule?

The Swiss entered the game at KC as the underdogs. They fell behind with a 10th-minute header from Alexis McAllister. It took the Swiss 22 minutes into the second half to equalize through Dan Ndoye.

"They Don’t Want to See Argentina Lose" - Giants Star Slams FIFA for Allegedly Favoring Lionel Messi in World Cup
Lionel Messi (Image via Sky Sports)

However, just five minutes later, Embolo was shown a second yellow, which automatically converted into a red card. The Swiss played the rest of the game with ten men.

According to the rulebook, FIFA does not limit match officials to interpreting the ‘mistaken identity’ rule to players of the same team. That said, the rules do dictate that “if the referee penalises an offence but has clearly misidentified the player who committed that offence, only the identity of the offender can be reviewed.”  

Ironically, if the referee hadn’t shown Paredes the yellow card, then VAR wouldn’t have stepped in to review the challenge.

Embolo became the first player to receive a red card due to this rule change. However, he is not the first player to suffer the wrath of the ‘mistaken identity’ rule. Paraguay’s Miguel Almiron was the first to receive a yellow card while playing Team USA.

The ten-man Swiss forced extra time, but the resilience finally broke when Julian Alvarez scored Argentina’s second goal. Lautaro Martínez added another in the final moments. The game finished in a 3-1 victory for Argentina. They will now play England in the semi-finals.

Eluemunor will be cheering for the English.

Argentina isn’t beating England, even with the help of the referees. Their World Cup ends in Atlanta… Bye bye Messi.

Eluemunor tweeted

Eluemunor is an American, born to a Nigerian father and an English mother in London.

So, for anyone who doesn’t know I was BORN in London, England lol. I’m not just some Random crazy England fan.

Eluemunor wrote

Eluemunor was drafted 159th overall by the Baltimore Ravens in 2017. He has been on the rosters of the New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars, Las Vegas Raiders, and currently plays for the Giants.

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