{"id":19014,"date":"2026-07-20T00:44:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T00:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=19014"},"modified":"2026-07-20T00:44:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T00:44:42","slug":"chelsea-star-enzo-fernandez-slammed-after-world-cup-red-card-read-chelsea-f-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=19014","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea star Enzo Fernandez slammed after World Cup red card &#8211; Read Chelsea F.C."},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez was sent off during the World Cup final after receiving two yellow cards in Argentina\u2019s meeting with Spain.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fern\u00e1ndez was dismissed during second-half stoppage time at the MetLife Stadium after catching Pau Cubars\u00ed with a late challenge near the halfway line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 25-year-old had already been booked for dissent before making the tackle. Referee Slavko Vin\u010di\u0107 immediately produced a second yellow card, leaving Argentina with 10 players as the goalless final moved into extra time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fern\u00e1ndez protested the decision, but former referee Darren Cann said there was \u201cno argument\u201d over the dismissal and did not expect VAR to intervene.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">ENZO FERNANDEZ IS SENT OFF \ud83d\udfe5<\/p>\n<p>Argentina will play the rest of the World Cup final with 10 men after Fernandez got his second yellow for a very late tackle. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OZFDiTc2oV\">pic.twitter.com\/OZFDiTc2oV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 19, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Shearer criticises Fern\u00e1ndez decision<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alan Shearer was particularly critical of Fern\u00e1ndez while covering the final.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The former England striker described the midfielder\u2019s first booking for speaking back to the referee as unnecessary. He then questioned why Fern\u00e1ndez attempted such a forceful challenge while already on a yellow card.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen you\u2019re on a yellow, you cannot make a challenge like that,\u201d Shearer said. \u201cThat is stupid from him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chris Sutton also dismissed Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s protests, describing the challenge as late and wild after Cubars\u00ed reached the ball first.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The red card brought a disappointing end to an otherwise influential tournament. Fern\u00e1ndez scored Argentina\u2019s late equaliser against England in the semi-final and also struck a stoppage-time winner against Egypt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ReadChelsea had highlighted\u00a0Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s importance to Xabi Alonso before the final, with the Blues planning to welcome him back after his mandatory post-tournament break.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His dismissal will not affect Chelsea\u2019s domestic campaign, but it denied Fern\u00e1ndez the chance to influence the closing stages of football\u2019s biggest match.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After producing several decisive World Cup moments, one reckless challenge left Argentina fighting for the trophy without their leading midfielder.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez was sent off during the World Cup final after receiving two&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}