Well, that was quite a way to kick off a World Cup. Mexico beat South Africa 2-0 in the opening game, but the scoreline was almost a side note given that three players were shown red cards during the match. Three. In one game. Before the tournament had even really got going, the referees had already stolen the spotlight, and not necessarily in a good way.
Now, it is worth being fair here. If players are doing things that deserve red cards, then the referee has to show them. Nobody wants officials to bottle it and let dangerous or cynical play go unpunished just because it is the World Cup and the stakes are high. That would be worse. But three dismissals in a single opener does make you wonder whether the officials have been told to come out with a point to prove, and that kind of heavy-handed approach can seriously damage a tournament if it continues.
The concern is the ripple effect. Teams start playing with fear rather than freedom. Managers set up defensively to avoid going down to ten men. Games become scrappy and stop-start. Nobody wants to watch ninety minutes of players pulling out of challenges and referees reaching for cards at the first opportunity. The beautiful game starts looking pretty ugly pretty fast.
That said, South Africa and Mexico are not exactly shrinking violets when it comes to physical play, and it is possible this was just a perfect storm of ill-discipline rather than a sign of things to come. Sometimes one feisty game early on actually settles things down because players across all squads take notice and adjust their approach sharpish.
The next few group games will tell us a lot. If red cards keep flying out at this rate then there is a real problem that FIFA needs to address quickly. If this was just an unusually combustible opener then everyone can breathe easy and get back to enjoying the football. Fingers crossed it is the latter, because this World Cup deserves to be decided by goals and great play rather than by who still has eleven men on the pitch.
Let me know your thoughts.