Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz tallied 48 fouls and distributed 18 cards in the match: 17 yellow and one red. The previous record also belonged to a match involving the Netherlands when they faced Portugal at the 2006 World Cup. On that occasion in Nuremberg, Germany, 16 cards were issued: 12 yellow and four red.
It took a penalty shootout to break the record. Lahoz gave a yellow card to Noa Lang and two to Denzel Dumfries, with the Dutch wing-back sent off after Lautaro Martinez's winning spot kick.
It is worth noting that the referee gave four cards off the field. Dutch players Wout Weghorst and Steven Bergwijn were punished while on the bench, while Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni and his assistant Walter Samuel were yellow-carded for a number of complaints.
Both teams used fouls as a tactic, especially the Netherlands, who committed 30, while Argentina committed 12 fewer (18) and, even so, were punished more. Of the 18 cards handed out, 10 went to the Argentines and eight to the Dutch.
The cards were also a blow for Argentina coach Scaloni. He will not be able to count on starting full-backs Gonzalo Montiel and Marcos Acuña for the Tuesday's semi-final against Croatia with the duo suspended.
See the full list of those carded below:
Netherlands: Jurrien Timber, Wout Weghorst, Memphis Depay, Steven Berghuis, Steven Bergwijn, Denzel Dumfries (yellow and red), Noa Lang
Argentina: Marcos Acuña, Cristian Romero, Lisandro Martínez, Leandro Paredes, Lionel Messi, Nicolás Otamendi, Gonzalo Montiel, Germán Pezzella, Lionel Scaloni (coach) and Walter Samuel (assistant coach).