Three red cards - are referees getting tough at this World Cup?

Three red cards - are referees getting tough at this World Cup?To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.This video can not be playedFigure caption, Three red cards shown in opening game of World CupByDale JohnsonFootball issues correspondentPublished2 minutes agoCommentsGone are the days when World Cup games were littered with red cards. Or so we thought. Three reds were shown in the opener on Thursday as Mexico beat South Africa 2-0.South Africa's Yaya Sithole and Themba Zwane were sent off, and then Mexico's Cesar Montes was dismissed in stoppage time. Maybe we had been spoiled. The World Cups in Russia and Qatar both saw just four red cards in the whole tournament. The 2026 tournament has nearly matched that already.It had been 20 years since three players were sent off in one match, in the 2006 finals when 28 players saw red.That was a remarkable tournament which saw three players dismissed in three separate games, and the all-time record of four reds in Portugal v Netherlands.Are we about to go back to those days? Will the 2026 World Cup be remembered for red cards being handed out like confetti? Sometimes red cards are simply justifiedImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Yaya Sithole was the first player to be sent off when he brought down Brian GutierrezIn 2017, Pierluigi Collina was appointed as Fifa's new head of referees and it heralded a very different era.Collina often takes about how decisions should serve as justice - for both teams.Players should stay on the field unless they have done something which truly deserves a red card. For instance, under his stewardship the law around denying a goalscoring opportunity (Dogso) when a penalty has been awarded have been hugely relaxed. It is now very difficult to get a red card.So it should be no surprise that the 2018 and 2022 World Cups saw just the four red cards after he took over. Refereeing at the start of a tournament often seem to sets the tone. Should we be dr...