England’s goalless draw with Ghana in Boston on Tuesday left Group L delicately poised, but the lasting image was not of a missed chance. It was Jude Bellingham, hand cupped over his mouth, speaking to Ghana’s Jordan Ayew. No card was shown, no VAR review triggered. The moment passed without sanction, yet it landed at the centre of a storm because, only days earlier, Paraguay’s Miguel Almirón had been sent off for an almost identical gesture.

The flashpoint is a new regulation introduced by FIFA for this World Cup, drafted after Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni was banned by UEFA for homophobic conduct towards Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior in February. The rule empowers referees to issue a red card when a player covers their mouth during a confrontation, the logic being that hidden speech in heated moments is likely to conceal abuse or discriminatory language. Pierluigi Collina, FIFA’s referees chief, clarified before the tournament that the act itself is not banned. “Players can continue to cover their mouth with an arm and the shirt because they may chat with friends,” he said. “When the conversation is confrontational, covering the mouth means that you are doing something very wrong, potentially, and the sanction is the red card.”

Almirón became the first player in World Cup history to be dismissed under the provision during Paraguay’s 1-0 victory over Turkey in San Francisco. The incident occurred amid a melee sparked by a foul on Isidro Pitta. Although Almirón was not directly involved in the pushing, he was seen covering his mouth while speaking to Turkey’s Mert Muldur. Muldur immediately drew the officials’ attention, the VAR advised a review, and the red card followed. South American analysts noted that the sanction felt severe for a player on the periphery of the scuffle, but the context of a mass confrontation met the threshold. Almirón was suspended for the decisive group finale against Australia.

Bellingham’s exchange with Ayew, by contrast, unfolded in a calm pocket of the pitch. There was no surrounding hostility, no shoving, no sign of animosity. European observers pointed out that the two players appeared to be sharing a private word, a routine occurrence in the modern game. The referee, Said Martínez of Honduras, and the VAR booth judged the conversation non-confrontational, and therefore no infraction occurred. Ghana’s coach Carlos Queiroz, who had his own heated exchange with Bellingham after a first-half tackle, later dismissed the matter, saying football “is not a tuxedo dance.”

The divergent outcomes have fuelled debate about consistency and the potential for the rule to be exploited. FIFA president Gianni Infantino defended the principle, telling SNTV: “If you have nothing to hide, you don’t cover your mouth when you speak to somebody.” Yet the episode has raised questions over whether a player could feign a confrontation to provoke a red card. For now, the rule remains an opt-in experiment exclusive to this World Cup. Almirón’s absence will be felt when Paraguay face Australia needing a point to reach the last 32, while England, still searching for fluency, head into a meeting with Panama knowing that Bellingham’s availability was never in doubt.