Throughout almost every game at this World Cup you will find examples of players talking to each other while covering their mouth. Even referees have been doing it.
Importantly, there was no animosity between Bellingham and Ayew – it was merely two players chatting.
How did the Almiron red card differ?
What was happening in the match was important.
Paraguay’s Isidro Pitta had gone to ground claiming a bad challenge by Turkey’s Ismail Yuksek.
This led to a melee between the two sets of players. Close by, Almiron covered his mouth when talking to Turkey’s Mert Muldur.
Almiron and Muldur were not directly involved in the pushing and shoving, but the game was in a heated situation.
“This thing about covering the mouth is for us a very, very important rule,” Infantino told SNTV on Tuesday following Almiron’s dismissal.
“It’s about respect. It’s about the example that we should give.
“If you have nothing to hide, you don’t cover your mouth when you speak to somebody.
“The rules have been made very clear to everyone.”
There are questions about how reliable this law change is, however. There is the possibility that a player could use it to get an opponent sent off in a situation like this.
Almiron, for instance, did not appear to be acting aggressively, while Muldur immediately turned around to highlight it to an assistant referee.
Almiron has received a one-game ban and will miss Paraguay’s final group game against Australia, with both teams likely requiring a point to reach the last 32.
The ban could have been longer if there was evidence of abusive language.
The new law is an opt-in, whereby a competition can choose whether to implement it. So far, it is only being used at the World Cup.
The difficulty in being consistent with the law, and the potential for it to be abused, means it might not be adopted by the domestic leagues.