Why Bellingham was not sent off for covering his mouth

Throughout almost every game at this World Cup you will find examples of players talking to each other while covering their mouth. Even referees have been doing it. Importantly, there was no animosity between Bellingham and Ayew - it was merely two players chatting. How did the Almiron red card differ? What was happening in the match was important. Paraguay's Isidro Pitta had gone to ground claiming a bad challenge by Turkey's Ismail Yuksek. This led to a melee between the two sets of players. Close by, Almiron covered his mouth when talking to Turkey's Mert Muldur. Almiron and Muldur were not directly involved in the pushing and shoving, but the game was in a heated situation. "This thing about covering the mouth is for us a very, very important rule," Infantino told SNTV on Tuesday following Almiron's dismissal. "It's about respect. It's about the example that we should give. "If you have nothing to hide, you don't cover your mouth when you speak to somebody. "The rules have been made very clear to everyone." There are questions about how reliable this law change is, however. There is the possibility that a player could use it to get an opponent sent off in a situation like this. Almiron, for instance, did not appear to be acting aggressively, while Muldur immediately turned around to highlight it to an assistant referee. …