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Turkey and ten-man Paraguay are facing off in a feisty clash in Group D at the 2026 World Cup.
Paraguay's Miguel Almiron has become the first ever player to get a red card for covering his mouth when speaking to an opponent.
MLS' Almiron held his hand over his mouth as he made a comment to Turkey's Mert Muldur as the teams clashed and was sent off.
Paraguay took an early lead as midfielder Matias Galarza netted with a powerful strike from the edge of the box just two minutes in.
GO FURTHER
Paraguay’s Miguel Almirón gets first-ever red card for covering mouth in situation of confrontation
59’ Turkey 0-1 Paraguay
Gill gets away with one next. Demiral shoots again, it takes a deflection and Gill spills it, heads out of his six-yard box and both Yuksek and Akgun nick the ball — but they can’t force it back across the box with the open goal gaping.
56’ Turkey 0-1 Paraguay
Ah Yuksek! What a ball in from the left by Bardakci — but Yuksek doesn’t make contact, where any sort of flick would’ve caused Orlando Gill issues in goal.
56’ Turkey 0-1 Paraguay
Still room for chaos here! Muldur is robbed of the ball on the edge of the Paraguay box and it springs a counter.
Enciso is probably the player they’d love to have the ball at his feet at that point, but on cutting inside he gets robbed of the ball and that is that.
We won’t see many of those moments from Paraguay. And they’re not about to try to control matters with possession.
Turkey subbed in Galatasaray’s Baris Alper Yilmaz for Kerem Akturkoglu. Yilmaz is known to have pace and physicality, but he alone cannot fix Turkey’s lack of creativity with the ball in this game.
50’ Turkey 0-1 Paraguay
Promising restart for Turkey here — although only if they make it count, which has been the hard part so far at this tournament.
Demiral fires an optimistic shot from range that Gill has to tip over. Yildiz then sends his shot into the side-netting.
This could be a long half for Paraguay, but the reward is still there at the end of it.
Half-time at Levi’s Stadium turned into an impromptu Bon Jovi singalong, by the way, with fans lighting up the stadium with their phones as the house lights went dark.
46’ Turkey 0-1 Paraguay
And yes, there have been changes. A change each, in fact.
Yilmaz is on for Akturkoglu for Turkey, which is an attacking switch.
As for 10-man Paraguay, Bobadilla is on for Pitta — so their striker is withdrawn for another midfield presence.
46’ Turkey 0-1 Paraguay
Back underway we go then.
Some quick half-time Turkey-Paraguay stats for you…
And yet, Paraguay lead!
Potentially the biggest smash-and-grab we have seen from this World Cup if they can hang on here, down to 10 men.
It must be said, a side including Calhanoglu, Guler and Yildiz should really be managing more than one shot on target from 12 attempts at goal.
Now with a man advantage, the quality of chances has to improve.
It looks like Vincenzo Montella is making half-time changes too.
Such a fine goal from Matias Galarza, as Paraguay won the ball high and broke with the sort of efficiency Turkey can only dream of right now.
Plenty of interested readers in our discussion page gave their take on that Miguel Almiron red card.
He’s a well-known player on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, currently in his second stint with MLS side Atlanta United, sandwiched between six years at Newcastle United in the Premier League.
Players had been warned before this World Cup that covering their mouths when speaking to an opponent during a moment of confrontation would leave them vulnerable to a red card.
Miguel Almiron is the first player to be punished under that new FIFA rule.
Here is how the momentum of that first half played out.
That red card might have ended Paraguay’s momentum for the rest of the match. Turkey will hope so.
They need to find some attacking potency here.
Sometimes, all it takes is one moment of brilliance.
Like they did against the USMNT last week, Paraguay created an early chance soon after kick-off.
Unlike that match last Friday, Turkey could not clear it — and Matias Galarza made them pay with a superb low strike from beyond the box.
HT: Turkey 0-1 Paraguay
The referee settles on 10 minutes 12 seconds and blows his half-time whistle.
And that is signalled by both benches getting up close and personal as they exchange a lot of words with each other.
Hopefully people weren’t covering their mouths, otherwise that is going to be a lot of red cards.
What a remarkable, dramatic half of football. My oh my.
45+9’ Turkey 0-1 Paraguay
And still we play on! Paraguay desperate to hear the half-time whistle.
I must admit, Turkey still look like they could play against nine men for an hour and fail to score.
And now we have Gustavo Gomez down after heading the ball clear. I think he caught it a bit flush on his face.
It may be evening but it’s red hot out there.
45+7’ Turkey 0-1 Paraguay
Turkey press on, now with the man advantage. Yuksek drives a shot just over the bar.
A world first then with that Almiron red card.
I did predict this wouldn’t finish 11 vs 11 inside the opening 10 minutes, but I didn’t think it would come like that and before half-time.
It will be more than six added minutes now, of course.
45+3’ Turkey 0-1 Paraguay
Oh my! Miguel Almiron has covered his mouth while saying something to a Turkey player — and that is flagged by the Turkey players.
You can’t do that if it’s in a confrontational situation and there is a potential red card if the officials feel it’s worthy.
That is a new rule for this World Cup, and here the officials said yes.
Paraguay are down to 10 men in the most incredible circumstances.
Team Stats
TUR
PAR
Game Details