Chris Coleman’s team were without Aaron Ramsey and Ben Davies against Portugal, suspended for the semi-final against Portugal after each was booked twice over the span of five matches.
It is not the first time a player has been punished for collecting bookings over an extended period of time. In 2014, Xabi Alonso (then of Real Madrid) missed the Champions League final after a third knockout phase card in the second leg of his team’s semi-final.
In 2012, three names each from Chelsea and Bayern Munich missed the blockbuster showdown at the Allianz after a number of bookings, in addition to John Terry’s absence as a result of being sent-off for a reckless tackle on Barcelona’s Alexis Sanchez.
As far back as 1999, Roy Keane and Paul Scholes of Manchester United missed the Red Devils’ continental triumph after accumulating yellow cards over the knockout phase.
Alonso’s suspension prompted a change in the rules, with all cards to expire after the quarter-finals. This was already in place for the European Championship.
Despite UEFA’s concession, it appears the system is still far from perfect. While players are unlikely to miss the final unless they seriously infringe in the semis, many went close to missing that stage altogether.
Going into Euro 2016’s quarter-finals, no fewer than 45 players were at risk of missing the next round if they infringed just once. As many as 16 were on the verge of suspension when Italy met Germany in Bordeaux, but only Mats Hummels missed his country’s semi-final against France.
Five games is a long time to maintain a blemish on a player’s record, particularly with cards awarded for even minor indiscretions these days. That is not to excuse dangerous behaviour on the field. The system must encourage good conduct and deter players from fouling, but in an intense game where the stakes are high, a split second decision can cost a player a chance at glory, and the referee will not always be looking at the moment through that wider lens.
Some teams could afford to manage booked players through to the next stage, as France did in substituting Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud off during their 5-2 quarter-final demolition of Iceland. Coleman did not believe his Welsh side had any such luxury, and it was Ramsey and Davies that paid the price.
While there is no method that would placate everyone, the staggering number of players on notice for the quarter-final round alone is indicative of the need for change. How could the booking system be better implemented?
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The group and knockout stages could be separated, with cards expiring after just three matches instead of five. This would resolve the issue at the quarter-final stage, but would similarly see players miss critical matches in the latter knockout rounds. Alternatively, bookings could expire after the round of 16, with players having two matches in which to avoid infringing twice before the final.
In any case, it is not difficult to be booked twice, and there will always be players that miss critical matches for minor transgressions. If cards were to expire after the group stage and a rule introduced increasing the number of bookings required to enforce suspensions in the knockout stages, both the profusion of potential suspensions in one round and the likelihood of key names missing the final could be diminished.
For some players it is too late, but UEFA has the opportunity to learn these lessons from Euro 2016 and devise a fairer, more balanced system for future competition.
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