“I celebrated in their face because there was a player from the Netherlands who came to us with every penalty kick we took and shouted at our players,” Otamendi explains. “I saw a photo on social media (see above, ed.) of us challenging them. But that picture doesn’t tell the whole story. We responded to their behavior.”
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Otamendi did not want to say which player from the Netherlands he meant. But afterwards Lionel Messi reacted irritated to Wout Weghorst. Referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz gave Denzel Dumfries a second yellow card after the penalty shootout after the right-back reacted furiously to provocations from Otamendi.
You know that the Netherlands is a heated game against Argentina,” said Dumfries. “That you are challenged and that there are riots. You try to provoke each other, it goes back and forth. I was also busy during the penalty shootout. You try to do everything. They also. I don’t like pointing fingers at other players, but I had my reasons. I don’t know if that’s smart. Something happened that made me react.”
World Cup record yellow cards
A record number of nineteen yellow cards was handed out in Lusail on Friday during the quarterfinals between the Netherlands and Argentina at the World Cup in Qatar.
The Argentines won 4-3 on penalties after being tied 2-2 after regular time and extra time. The Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz showed a yellow card nineteen times and once red (after a second yellow). Three of those yellow cards were against a player (Weghorst) and two coaches (Samuel and Scaloni) who were not on the field. Three cards (including one red) were given during the penalty shootout (two to Dumfries (thus red) and to Lang).
© AP
Jurriën Timber (43.), Wout Weghorst (on the bench, 45.+2), Memphis Depay (76.), Steven Berghuis (88.), Virgil van Dijk (90.+1), Steven Bergwijn (91.) , Denzel Dumfries (128. and 129. who got red) and Noa Lang (129.) got the yellow card on the Dutch side. For the Argentines received Walter Samuel (assistant, 31.), Marcos Acuna (43.), Cristian Romero (45.), Lisandro Martinez (76.), Leandro Paredes (89.), Lionel Scaloni (coach, 90.), Lionel Messi (90.+10.), Nicolas Otamendi (90.+12.), Gonzalo Montiel, (109.) and German Pezzella (112.) a yellow card.
With ten cards, Argentina sharpens the previous record (9) for the same team, which Portugal (in the round of 16 against the Netherlands in 2006) and the Netherlands (in the 2010 World Cup final against Spain) shared. On Friday, however, two coaches, assistant Walter Samuel and T1 Lionel Scaloni, also went into the ref’s book. The Netherlands also saw yellow nine times on Friday evening.
The previous record in the same World Cup match was 16 yellow cards at Cameroon-Germany in South Korea and Japan in 2002, and Portugal-Netherlands in Germany in 2006. That ‘Battle of Nuremberg’ also produced four red cards, with both teams finishing nine to nine.
