World Cup, brawl in Holland-Argentina. Paredes punished… with the maxi-recovery

Very tense nerves during the Netherlands-Argentina, a match that is giving away a place in the semifinals of the World Cup. The match heated up after Oranje’s first goal, which reduced the deficit from 2-0 to 2-1: in the 89th minute, a foul entry by Paredes on Aké unleashed the wrath of the Dutch bench, who ‘is poured onto the pitch to ask for the red card.

The Spanish referee Mateu Lahoz – already much contested by Van Gaal’s players for a series of adverse whistles during the match – instead only cautioned the Juventus midfielder, who also kicked the ball hard towards the opposing bench on the occasion, worsening the situation situation. A row broke out, with all the players involved (including Van Dijk and Messi among the most active): calm returned after a few minutes.

Mateu Lahoz thus conceded 10 minutes of added time. And the free-kick that led to Weghorst’s 2-2 was conceded in the 100th minute: the goal by the Dutch forward arrived in the 101st minute. In the 103rd minute, when the referee blew his whistle and sent the match to extra time, a new mini-fight broke out, but it was settled more quickly than the first. At the moment, incredibly enough, Mateu Lahoz hasn’t sent anyone off, either on the pitch or in the benches (he has instead drawn 14 yellow cards).