Piero Hincapie was shown a red card as Ecuador were eliminated from the World Cup by Mexico on Tuesday night, becoming the third Arsenal player to leave the tournament.
Ecuador lost to Mexico on Tuesday night, suffering a 2-0 defeat to exit the 2026 World Cup at the last-32 stage. But to compound Piero Hincapie’s misery, the Arsenal defender was sent off in the final minutes of the game.
Hincapie covered his mouth during a confrontation with Santiago Gimenez, which is now a red-card offence. The incident wasn’t picked up by the referee, but the Mexico players made sure to flag it, at which point VAR recommended a review and a red card.
For Ecuador, the damage was already done by then, with the score already 2-0 and just seconds left to play. But Hincapie will still have to serve a red-card ban at some stage in the future.
Hincapie will serve that red-card suspension in Ecuador’s next competitive fixtures, though that may not be for a while. Qualifiers for the 2030 World Cup won’t begin for at least another year, and Copa America isn’t until 2028.
Ecuador’s upcoming games in the autumn international breaks are set to be friendlies, so Hincapie will be available for them.
From an Arsenal perspective, the hope is that Hincapie has learned his lesson, and that he doesn’t do the same thing again with his club in the future.
Hincapie’s exit from the World Cup should mean he’s available for the start of pre-season with Arsenal, and the same will be true of fellow eliminated players Kai Havertz of Germany and Viktor Gyokeres of Sweden.
It’s still over a month until the first friendly match against Girona, allowing plenty of time for their summer holidays. Some others in the squad won’t have the same luxury with scheduling.
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