No self-respecting England fan, whether watching live at the time or not, could ever forget Gary Lineker's "have a word" aside to Bobby Robson after Paul Gascoigne's tears at Italia '90.
During their semi-final against Germany in Turin, England's maverick midfielder was hit by the realisation that should the Three Lions get past the old enemy, he would miss the final, a moment forever etched on our national footballing psyche.
Bobby Robson: "At the time of the booking, he was probably a bit rattled. Gary Lineker knows him well and he came over to the bench and shouted at us to watch Gazza for the next five minutes."
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) April 12, 2020
Watch: https://t.co/2vFJExDM9E #MOTDRewind #bbcfootball pic.twitter.com/YKYSSId1XI
England would of course go on to lose that match on penalties, and despite the iconic moment Gazza's unfiltered emotion delivered, it took FIFA 20 years to react.
Eventually, after mounting pressure, and following Claudio Caniggia (Argentina, 1990), Alessandro Costacurta (Italy, 1994) and Michael Ballack (Germany, 2002) all being suspended for the biggest game in football, the world governing body finally changed the rules to bring in a bookings amnesty after the 2010 quarter-finals.
Interestingly, while it may seem counter intuitive, referees have actually been more lenient in semi-final ties since then, perhaps given a gentle nudge that unless it is absolutely unavoidable, they should not run the risk of potentially sending players off, and having them miss FIFA's showpiece.
Since 2010 there has been an average of just 2.6 cards per semi-final.
Five (63%) have have gone UNDER 3.5 CARDS, four (50%) UNDER 2.5, three (38%) UNDER 1.5 and one (12.5%) UNDER 0.5.
It would be remiss not to include a little more specific context too, starting with the referee appointments - both of which are interesting.
The opener between France and Spain, which has the propensity to be a lot more cagey as the wonderful French attack meets a possession greedy, defensively sound Spanish side, sees Ivan Barton in charge.
He went down in history during the group stage when he became the first official to send a player off for covering their mouth during an altercation, and he absolutely made the most of the opportunity to send Paraguay's Miguel Almiron on his way by bellowing out the decision through his microphone.
PARAGUAY DOWN TO 10 MEN 🟥
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 20, 2026
Almiron becomes the first player to get a straight red card for covering their mouth at the World Cup pic.twitter.com/ru2GNZifkx
That, though, was a VAR intervention.
For a referee who in the past made headlines for sending off four players in a CONCACAF Nations League semi-final between Mexico and the USA, this has been a very tame tournament.
The man from El Salvador only dished out one further card in Paraguay's aforementioned win over Turkey, while there were three bookings a piece in 90 minutes in his other two outings - Japan vs Sweden in the group stage and Colombia vs Switzerland in the round of 16.
Ismail Elfath has the whistle for England against Argentina, the tie that in theory has more potential to boil over.
The Major League Soccer official lets most things go.
He came within moments of a cardless game in the last 16, only for Neymar to hack down Martin Odegaard in the 96th minute. In the final round of the group stage he did everything to keep his cards in his pocket despite Uruguay and Spain sharing one of the ugliest matches of the tournament.
Eventually, Elfath was left with no option in stoppage time when Nicolas de la Cruz (yellow) cynically tripped Nico Williams and Agustin Canobbio's two-footed challenge on Pau Cubarsi was followed by him man-handling the referee, making a red card inevitable.
Prior to that, rash challenges were flying in left, right and centre. Most were waved away, with only three yellows shown for the 26 fouls.
In the Netherlands' 2-2 draw with Japan, three Dutchmen were booked, all for tactical fouls to stop counter attacks.
Pedri felt that one!
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 27, 2026
Was Agustin Canobbio lucky to escape a yellow card here? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/qZoi4Jql4e
Then there are the teams taking part.
Including extra time Argentina are averaging one card per game, with England at just 1.33. The Three Lions have have had two games where they picked up no cards and three games with one. Argentina have had three blemish-free matches and three with one booking.
Spain (0.83 cards per game) and France (0.67) have barely caught the referees' attention at all.
Long story short, contrary to everything else you may read or hear, last-four ties rarely see cards brandished willy nilly, and in a tournament where there have generally been very few bookings, it would be a surprise for these two matches to buck a longstanding trend.
Odds correct 12:40 BST (14/07/26)
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