Colombia’s midfielder Carlos Sanchez was shown the first red card of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia in the match against Japan in the Russian city of Saransk on Tuesday.
Just three minutes into the match, Colombia’s goalkeeper David Ospina made an initial save but the ball rebounded to Japan’s Shinji Kagawa who took a shot that appeared to be headed for an open goal but Sanchez blocked the ball with his outstretched arm.
The Colombian midfielder was sent off while Japanese footballer Kagawa scored from the penalty spot, putting Japan ahead 1-0 in the match against Colombia.
Sanchez’s red card is the second fastest in FIFA World Cup’s history after Uruguay’s Sergio Batista was sent off inside the first minute in 1986.
Colombia managed to equalize the score 1-1 in the 39th minute.
Russia is holding its first time ever edition of the FIFA World Cup, which kicked off in Moscow with a spectacular opening show at the Luzhniki Stadium on the night of June 14.
Russia selected 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup and they are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.
The matches of the 2018 World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15 at 12 stadiums located in the 11 mentioned above cities across Russia. Two of the stadiums are located in the Russian capital