World Cup Live: Camera Cable Controversy and Embolo Red Card Leave Fans Fuming

This World Cup live covers the two biggest talking points from Saturday’s quarter-finals: a camera cable that may have changed the outcome in Miami Gardens, and a red card in Kansas City that ended Switzerland’s tournament a man short. England beat Norway 2-1 in extra time at Hard Rock Stadium after a goal kick appeared to brush an overhead cable, and Argentina beat Switzerland 3-1 in extra time at Arrowhead Stadium after Breel Embolo was sent off for simulation.

Both results send shockwaves through the bracket, and both calls now sit at the centre of tournament debate. This World Cup live breaks down both moments and what each result means for the semi-finals.

This World Cup Live Confirms England Beat Norway 2-1 After a Camera Cable Changed the Game

England reached the semi-finals with a 2-1 extra-time win over Norway at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Jude Bellingham scored both England goals, but the moment everyone talked about after full time happened seconds before his first one.

Here is how the sequence unfolded:

1. Norway took the lead through Andreas Schjelderup, and the scoreline held until first-half stoppage time.
2. Norway goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland struck a goal kick that suddenly changed direction in the air, in the 45+2 minute.
3. The ball dropped almost straight down instead of carrying on its expected path, and England collected it near the edge of their own half.
4. Anthony Gordon fed the ball to Elliot Anderson, who found Bellingham on the edge of the box.
5. Bellingham dribbled past defender Torbjørn Heggem and finished low past Nyland to make it 1-1.
6. Bellingham struck again in extra time to seal the 2-1 win and send England through to a Wednesday semi-final in Atlanta against Argentina.

Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said afterward that the ball “fell straight down from heaven,” and argued it clipped one of the cables used to move a robotic camera above the pitch. He stopped short of blaming the loss entirely on the incident. Goalkeeper Nyland reacted with visible frustration on the pitch, and Erling Haaland raised the issue with referee Clément Turpin at half-time. England coach Thomas Tuchel praised his players’ resilience after the match, though he also said the team needs to cut down on unforced errors going forward.

FIFA issued a statement more than an hour after the final whistle. The governing body pointed to the Connected Ball system built into the match ball, which is designed to register a distinct signal, sometimes described as the ball’s “heartbeat,” every time it is struck or touched. FIFA said that signal showed no spike while the ball was in the air during the disputed passage of play, so the technology found no evidence the ball made contact with the wire.

Key Numbers From the England vs Norway Cable Incident

Ball-sensor technology has already shaped more than one big decision at this tournament. Earlier in the competition, the same type of sensor data ruled out a possible equaliser for Croatia against Portugal, after readings showed the ball had brushed a Croatian player moments before crossing the line.

In a separate quarter-final, Argentina had an Egyptian goal wiped off the scoreboard in the 58th minute once VAR confirmed a foul by Marwan Attia on Lisandro Martínez. Solbakken pointed out that Norway had still gone deeper into this World Cup than any Norwegian side in the nation’s history.

This World Cup Live Breaks Down Why Embolo Was Sent Off for Simulation

Argentina reached the semi-finals with a 3-1 extra-time win over Switzerland at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. Dan Ndoye levelled the score at 1-1 in the 67th minute, putting the defending champions under real pressure for the first time in the match.

Five minutes later, the game turned:

• Referee João Pedro Silva Pinheiro initially awarded a yellow card to Argentina’s Leandro Paredes for a challenge on Embolo.
• The video assistant referee called for a review under the “mistaken identity” protocol.
• Replays showed Embolo was already going to ground before Paredes made contact, meaning the original foul call didn’t hold up.
• Pinheiro rescinded Paredes’ yellow card and booked Embolo instead, for simulation.
• Because Embolo had already picked up a yellow card earlier in the match, the second yellow triggered an automatic red card in the 72nd minute.

Switzerland played out the rest of the match with ten men, ultimately going down 3-1 after Julián Álvarez and Lautaro Martínez scored in extra time.

Embolo broke down in tears once he realised what had happened, and had to be walked off the pitch by his own teammates. Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka described the dressing room afterward as “very quiet,” and hard to sit in given how the match had turned. Defender Nico Elvedi said he could not follow the reasoning behind the VAR decision, and coach Murat Yakin argued his side had the better of the play up until the sending-off changed the shape of the match.

Embolo Joins a Short List of Players Sent Off for Simulation

A second yellow card specifically for simulation is rare in World Cup history. Embolo becomes only the fourth player in six decades of the tournament to receive that exact punishment, joining:

• Luis Pérez (Mexico, 2006, against Portugal)
• Asamoah Gyan (Ghana, 2006, against Brazil)
• Francesco Totti (Italy, 2002, against South Korea)

Key Numbers From the Argentina vs Switzerland Red Card

This World Cup Live Explains the VAR Rule Behind the Reversed Card

The “mistaken identity” protocol is written into the current IFAB Laws of the Game. It allows the video assistant referee to step in whenever an official has clearly disciplined the wrong player for an offence. Under the rule, the card itself cannot simply be cancelled once review confirms an error. It gets reassigned to whichever player actually committed the offence, a foul, a handball, or an act of simulation.

That distinction mattered here. Simulation counts as unsporting behaviour under the laws of the game, and referees are required to caution a player who tries to win a decision by feigning injury or contact that never happened. Because Pinheiro’s review found no contact from Paredes, the yellow card moved across to Embolo for simulation instead, and Embolo’s existing caution turned that into a red.

Yakin’s frustration centred on how the process played out on the day. He argued Pinheiro should have let play continue rather than book Paredes for the initial challenge, since that booking is what gave VAR a card to reassign in the first place. Without it, the review pathway would not have existed at all.

This was not the first time the mechanism appeared at this World Cup. In the group-stage opener between the United States and Paraguay, referee Danny Makkelie initially booked USMNT captain Tim Ream for a foul on Paraguay’s Miguel Almirón. Review showed no contact between the two, and the yellow card moved to Almirón for simulation instead. That earlier case did not produce a red card, since Almirón had no prior caution to combine with it. Embolo’s case marked the first time the same protocol has produced a sending-off at this tournament.

This World Cup Live  Tracks Player and Coach Reactions From Both Quarter-Finals

Reaction from Kansas City and Miami Gardens came fast, and neither losing camp minced words:

• Ståle Solbakken (Norway coach): said the ball’s flight looked wrong to everyone on his bench, though he refused to use it as an excuse for the result.
• Erling Haaland (Norway forward): raised the incident with the referee at half-time alongside goalkeeper Nyland.
• Murat Yakin (Switzerland coach): said the red card, in his view, changed the shape of a match his side had been controlling.
• Granit Xhaka (Switzerland captain): described the dressing room as subdued once the final whistle went.
• Nico Elvedi (Switzerland defender): said he struggled to accept the logic behind the VAR call.
• Thomas Tuchel (England coach): credited his players for grinding out a win while flagging room for a cleaner performance next time out.

None of the reactions changed the final results. England and Argentina both advanced, and both scorelines stand as official under FIFA’s rules.

This World Cup Live Sets Up the Semi-Final Picture

Argentina’s 3-1 win books a semi-final spot for the reigning champions. England’s 2-1 extra-time win sends Bellingham’s side to Atlanta for a Wednesday semi-final against Argentina, on the same weekend that ended Norway’s deepest World Cup run in the nation’s history.

This World Cup live will keep tracking both squads as preparation for that semi-final begins, along with any further FIFA comment on the camera cable and the reversed card.