Argentina Player Stumbles All Over The Place After Scary Head-To-Head Collision, Allowed To Stay In Game
For the second time in this World Cup, a player who appeared to have a head injury was allowed to immediately return to the game.
Argentina's Javier Mascherano banged heads with the Netherlands' Georginio Wijnaldum in the 27th minute of the World Cup semifinals:
He landed on his feet but looked woozy and eventually fell down:
He appeared totally out of it:
Mascherano stayed on the ground for a minute:
He walked off on his own power, and clearly wanted to come back into the game:
He came back on immediately:
FIFA doesn't have a mandatory concussion protocol. It leaves concussion diagnosis up to team doctors. Since substitutions are so valuable, there's an incentive for teams to keep a concussed player in the game if he says he's okay.
We don't know if Mascherano has a concussion, but he clearly looked dazed.