the comedy of errors

It's the 92nd minute of U.S.-Algeria. There's a corner kick for the African team. It may be their last chance to tie the game and save some face. The ball flies to the box, someone heads it, and the referee Frank De Bleeckere of Belgium calls a foul against the U.S. Some Algerian players furiously approach the referee. Two are inches away from his face, and one of them waves his arms repeatedly. De Bleeckere steps back and turns around. He takes out his cards and, turning back again, flashes the yellow card to the player in front of him. It's the captain, Anther Yahia, and this is his second yellow card. The referee remembers this and pulls out the regulatory red card. Yahia can't believe it. He does what many other players have done before: gestures of bewilderement, he hasn't done a thing, this is absurd, this can't be happening.
Yahia is still gesturing to the camera as he takes off the captain's armband and walks off the field. It's a heartfelt performance. He's using more energy here than he used when the match was tied at zero and Algeria had to attack and score to move on to the next round.
Yahia finally leaves the field. The tv producers give us the replay. This time we're closer to the action. The two players who are on the referee's face are Hassan Yebda and Rafik Halliche. It's the latter's arms that move aggresively up and down. Then Yahia emerges in between his two teammates. He pushes them aside and moves on to deal with the ref. From the side, which is how we see him, Yahia somewhat resembles Halliche. De Bleeckere turns around and pulls out the cards.
Yahia wasn't acting.