VAR overturns yellow card between opposing players for first time at World Cup

For the first time in World Cup history, the Video Assistant Referee system was used to overturn a caution issued to one player and reassign it to an opposing player during the USA-Paraguay match Saturday in the tournament's Group D opener.

Dutch referee Danny Makkelie issued a yellow card to American defender Tim Ream in the 52nd minute after Paraguayan midfielder Miguel Almirón made contact near the goal line. The VAR center, based in Dallas, flagged a potential error and called Makkelie to the monitor to review the incident. Upon review, officials determined that Almirón had exaggerated the contact, leading Makkelie to withdraw the caution from Ream and issue it to Almirón instead for simulation.

The intervention represents the first application of expanded VAR powers introduced at this World Cup. Prior to the tournament, FIFA broadened the circumstances under which VAR can overturn on-field decisions. Previously, VAR could only correct instances where a yellow or red card was mistakenly given to the wrong teammate. The new protocol permits VAR to intervene when the referee penalizes the wrong team entirely—when one team commits a foul but the opposing team receives the caution, a situation classified as "mistaken identity" under the rules.

The Ifab rulebook states that a referee must have "clearly sanctioned the wrong player" for VAR to intervene on such matters. However, the rulebook also specifies that "the type of irregularity cannot be reviewed," creating ambiguity about whether the Dallas VAR center's intervention aligned with the protocol's intent, according to reporting by BBC Sport.

USA defeated Paraguay 4-1 in the match, with the yellow card correction occurring during the second half of play.