The controversy surrounding the latest case involving Vinicius has convinced FIFA to intervene by banning those who cover their mouths and faces on the pitch. The presumption of guilt arises…
The Prestianni case was the last straw, the one that broke the camel’s back. FIFA declares war on lip cheats, footballers who cover their faces in confrontations with opponents by hiding their mouths. If they do it, the number one in world football has decided, Gianni Infantinoit’s because they are guilty of something and therefore should be kicked out of the field. Also because the suspicion is that often the trash talking concerns a very delicate topic like that of racism on which FIFA and not only is playing its part.
A few weeks after the event that rocked the Champions League match between Benfica and Real Madrid (Gianluca Prestianni accused a Vinicius and by other Madrid players for having called Real’s Brazilian a “monkey”), Infantino announced the tightening which will arrive in a very short time. If possible, but the opposite is unlikely to happen quickly enough to become an operational rule already in the next World Cup.
The matter was discussed in the General Assembly of the Ifab (International Football Association Board) which at the end of February changed the VAR protocol by inserting new rules and adding other measures to combat wasting time. No immediate action has been taken, but the reflection phase will last a few weeks at most because the attention on the issue of racism is very high and Infantino cannot and does not want to allow himself to make a bad impression.
“If a player covers his mouth and says something that has racist consequences, then he must be disqualified, obviously. We have to assume that he said something that he shouldn’t have said, otherwise he wouldn’t have needed to cover his mouth,” the FIFA president told Sky Sports. The Ifab will now have to translate everything into a rule that is universally valid, taking into account that the hand in front of the mouth to avoid showing the lips is also a tool for defending the tactical secrets of a team or, in some cases, an attempt to protect oneself from future controversy by avoiding public discussions between coaches and players or between teammates.
The objective, therefore, is not to generalize to avoid a future of paradoxes. The indication given by FIFA, however, is so clear that it cannot go unheeded and as early as next summer’s World Cup it should contribute to reducing the number of those who raise their hand or shirt to protect their face when arguing with an opponent. The presumption of guilt arrives in football, a complex institution to handle but which Zurich demands to take away space from football racists.
