Three red cards - are referees getting tough at this World Cup?

Gone are the days when World Cup games were littered with red cards. Or so we thought.

Three reds were shown in the opener on Thursday as Mexico beat South Africa 2-0.

South Africa's Yaya Sithole and Themba Zwane were sent off, and then Mexico's Cesar Montes was dismissed in stoppage time.

Maybe we had been spoiled. The World Cups in Russia and Qatar each had just four red cards. The 2026 tournament has nearly matched that already.

Attack from South African player

It had been 20 years since three players were sent off in one match, in the 2006 finals when 28 players saw red overall.

That was a remarkable tournament - with three players dismissed in three separate games, and the all-time record of four reds was set in the last-16 match between Portugal and the Netherlands.

Are we about to go back to those days? Will the 2026 World Cup be remembered for red cards being thrown about like confetti?

Sometimes red cards are simply justified

Brian Gutierrez of Mexico is fouled by Sphephelo Sithole of South Africa. Sithole was issued a red card.

Image source,Getty Images

Image caption,

Yaya Sithole was the first player to be sent off when he brought down Brian Gutierrez

In 2017, Pierluigi Collina was appointed as Fifa's head of referees, heralding a new era.

Collina often talks about how decisions should serve as justice - for both teams.

Players should stay on the field unless they have done something which truly deserves a red card.

For instance, under his stewardship the law around denying a goalscoring opportunity (Dogso) when a penalty has been awarded have been relaxed significantly, because the team is still getting a really good scoring opportunity. It is now very difficult to get a red card.

So it should be no surprise that the 2018 and 2022 World Cups each produced just the four red cards.

Refereeing at the start of a tournament often seem to sets the tone. Should we be drawing any conclusions from this match?

In his pre-tournament briefing, the Italian was focused on timewasting and general player behaviour.

There was no talk of tough stance being taken that would be likely to result in a huge spike in red cards.

Sometimes red cards are simply justified. Well, most of them anyway.

Sithole's dismissal for fouling Brian Gutierrez was a simple decision for referee Wilton Sampaio.

The Mexico attacking midfielder was through on goal. Sithole may not have meant to bring him down, but he did. There was no doubt the South African had denied his opponent a clear goalscoring opportunity.