Paraguay scored early and then held on to beat Turkey 1-0 at the World Cup on Friday with 10 men after Miguel Almirón became the first player sent off at the tournament for covering his mouth in a confrontation.
Almirón got his marching orders in first half stoppage time after a video review revealed that he had violated new rules when he briefly covered his mouth while exchanging words with Turkey player Mert Müldür.
Urged by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, the rule was introduced recently to punish racist or other discriminatory incidents on the pitch after Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni covered his mouth with his shirt when he insulted Real Madrid‘s Vinícius Júnior in a Champions League match in February.
Almirón had earlier set up Matias Galarza to score the only goal just over a minute into the match into the bottom corner.
Paraguay kept their knock-out rounds bid alive with a first victory after losing their opener against the United States and will play Australia for second place and an assured last-32 berth in the group finale next week.
Turkey were eliminated with a second defeat, coupled with the US team’s victory against Australia earlier in the day. Their best chance came in the 35th minute when a header from Müldür hit the crossbar and then the right post without crossing the line.
Paraguay’s victory also means that the US have won Group D ahead of their last game against Turkey.
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