Tempers flared during Friday’s World Cup semifinal match between Argentina and the Netherlands.
The Netherlands were awarded a free kick late in the second half after Leandro Paredes was given a yellow card for a hard foul. The foul occurred near the sideline, and Paredes stood up and booted the ball into the Dutch bench area after the whistle was blown. A heated confrontation and some shoving between players followed.
Paredes was only shown a yellow card for the initial foul. FOX rules analyst Joe Machnik said after the sequence that Paredes was fortunate he did not get a yellow card for both the foul and his antics afterword. He would have been forced to leave the pitch if that happened, which would have left Argentina playing a man down with a 2-1 lead.
The confrontation proved to be costly for Argentina, anyway. It was the primary reason 10 minutes of stoppage time were added. The Netherlands scored the equalizer in the 100th minute to send the match to extra time.
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