The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicked off in Mexico City on Thursday with a feisty clash between Mexico and South Africa. While Julian Quinones and Raul Jimenez scored to lead the home nation to a 2-0 victory, the real highlight was referee Wilton Sampaio showing the red card thrice.
Sphephelo Sithole’s desperate attempt to stop Brian Gutierrez’s run in the 49th minute resulted in the South Africans getting reduced to 10 men. More disciplinary woes were to follow, when South African midfielder Themba Zwane was given the marching orders by the referee in the 84th minute, for having hit Roberto Alvarado on his face during a challenge.
While Mexico already had the game in the bag by then, defender Cesar Montes committed a foul just outside the box, stopping the attacker from a definite goalscoring opportunity, and was shown the red card. The second match of the day, between South Korea and Czechia, which ended in a narrow 2-1 victory for the Koreans, had no disciplinary troubles.
WIth the tournament finally moving to the United States of America later on Friday, with the home nation about to host Paraguay, the attention of global football fans turns towards American media once again. American pundits and experts have already gotten a lot of flak over their controversial opinions on football and a noticeable bias towards the USMNT. Now, FOX has upset football fans over their new red card graphic that is permanently displayed on the TV scoreboard.
Broadcasters all over the world usually put a small red card icon over the respective team’s name on the scoreboard whenever a player is sent off on the pitch. In case multiple players are sent off from the same team, then the equivalent number of cards are placed on the scoreboard.
But in FOX’s new TV scoreboard specially designed for the World Cup, a text box is also added under the team’s name, mentioning “Down to 10 players”. In the case of South Africa in the opening game, the number was accordingly reduced to 9, with a small 2 added in the red card inlay, signifying how many players had been shown the red card.
The new design is clearly intended to simplify the basic rules of football to newcomers, who might not be aware of the repercussions of a red card. While only 27% of Americans showed an active interest in football, or soccer, in 2023, that figure has been growing, evident from the increase in viewership numbers. FOX’s new scoreboard wants to make football more simple to understand for newer viewers who might be tuning in only to watch the USMNT play.
Fox really babying viewers with this ugly permanent UI.
— Barento (@razlol) June 11, 2026
DOWN TO 10 PLAYERS 🤪 pic.twitter.com/wG9yEsq160
But to most fans elsewhere, the scoreboard is an unnecessary oversimplification, which is just another attempt to make things more attuned to the sports popular in the USA, like American football, basketball and baseball. The USMNT is hoping for a strong start to the campaign later today, with Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Folarin Balogun expected to be their main performers. Last time out in the 2022 Qatar World Cup, USA had lost to the Netherlands in the Round of 16 knockout stage.
