‘Completely corrupt ref’: Red card on USMNT star Folarin Balogun sparks outrage
· Yahoo Sports
United States Men’s National Team star Folarin Balogun put the team up 1-0 late in the first half of Wednesday night’s match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, but a controversial call early in the second half sent him to the locker room for the rest of the match and will sideline him for the next match, as well.
About 15 minutes into the second half of Wednesday night’s match, Balogun was issued a straight red card after a VAR review for incidentally stepping on the back of the leg of a Bosnian player.
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As a result, the United States had to play the remainder of the match down a man and will now miss the team’s Round of 16 match against Belgium with the United States winning and advancing.
While the officials may have determined that it a foul worthy of a red card, that was certainly not a common opinion from anyone else as the call quickly sparked outrage.
“Man, somebody help me. That foul looked incidental from Balogun, shouldn’t a Red Card be given if there is either intention to foul, or an action that is aggressive and unsafe in nature? Didn’t feel like Balogun was out of control or anything, just looked like it kind of happened,” Jason Kelce wrote in a post on X.
“Red card for that means you’ve lost the plot. Completely lost the plot,” former American soccer star and current soccer analyst Taylor Twellman wrote in a post on X.
“VERY harsh red. Wow. Refs are all over the place in this World Cup. Re-referring by video. Bollocks,” NBC Sports soccer analyst Robbie Mustoe added.
“I feel like I’ve seen at least a dozen fouls not get called in this World Cup that were worse than that alleged red card,” said Ben Axelrod of Front Office Sports in a post on X.
“Oh this is a completely corrupt ref. Bosnia is arm tackling our players freely with no call at all,” Conn Carroll of the DC Examiner wrote.
“Yeah, this is me right now. What a trash call,” wrote Sam Amick of The Athletic in a post on X.
“Our star player is out for a game and a half because he accidentally stepped on a guy’s foot. Lunacy,” Barstool Sports personality John Feitelberg added.
The good news for the United States is that they were able to win the match anyway, even adding another goal to make the final score 2-0. The bad news is that Balogun, the team’s top goal scorer, will now miss Monday’s game, too.
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