How do yellow's work at this stage? if you get a yellow this game, and then another yellow, do you sit the following game? Or is it an automatic soft red for yellow in the second game? Sorry if that isn't clear.
The following apply to yellow cards within the tournament:
- If you accumulate two yellows in different games, you are suspended for the following game
- However, an accumulated yellow card is wiped clean
after the quarterfinals
- This means a second yellow in the R16 means you're suspended for the QF, and a second yellow in the QF means you're suspended for the SF
- However, it does mean that the only way you'd be suspended for the final is if you're red-carded in the semifinal, which is what the purpose of that is
It's a bit silly, but it's not clear to me there's an obvious, better way to do things. Getting 3 yellows in 5 tournament games is pretty darn unlikely. And taking tactical, cynical yellows in a short tournament where that one counterattack you stopped might've sent you packing is already highly incentivized, so any disincentive there is probably worth it.
Worth noting that in a lot of the top leagues, it takes 5 yellow cards to be suspended for the next league match. In a 38-match season, you'll have guys who end up getting suspended 2, even 3 times in a season, but they'd have likely needed a breather anyway so it's not that big a deal to them.