2026 World Cup - USA team thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
- Start date
Highly doubtful. If bribery were a thing, then it wouldn’t involve the US. And no way would this happen if it were a clear egregious foul.
Get ready for a one sided officiating job tomorrow as backlash against the ruling. Even though FIFA was correct to fix the injustice, it may cause anger among the other competing nations. Expect anti-American sentiment to be in full display tomorrow.
Problem is the request from the WH as opposed to self initiated or from the U.S. Soccer Federation. Political asks make this much worse. Time to play the heel I guess. No one likes us anymore anyway.
If it was anyone else I'd be rooting against them. Why wouldn't other teams be angry? They didn't rescind the red card--they're just not suspending him.
Well well well, then, the red card was the correct call by Mr. Clueless (not you Erial but the one everyone has on ignore at this point). Love it!
The attention that this Balogun red card situation has gotten is astounding considering no one in the U.S. gives a sh|t about soccer.
France:
I thought this was an English speaking board. I must have been mistaken. This is just gibberish to me.
Sorry - I gave a summary after I saw it wasn’t in English - basically France wants a yellow card overturned now.
France:
Sorry - this says France wants one of their yellow cards overturned.
This is the first post from Julien:
As reported by @lequipe, the FFF is leaning towards lodging a formal complaint with FIFA regarding the yellow card Michael Olise received against Paraguay, given that Balogun had his red card rescinded.
and the reply from Leonardo:
First consequence of the Balogun case: France wants Olise's yellow card annulled.
It would have been a simple matter to downgrade the red to a yellow but, no, FIFA had to do it in a way that prolongs the debate. Idiots. Going forward, suppose someone gets a red in a match their team wins. What then? Beyond stupid.
Correct--glad someone is following it lol
This is the problem--they didn't rescind it, the didn't downgrade it--they simply "suspended" it which...now that's the expectation moving forward
This is a shocking development given FIFA’s history of being above board and avoiding controversy.
De rien (French)
or
De ada (Portuguese)
I just know how to copy and paste into Google translator.
This is almost identical to what FIFA did with Cristiano Ronaldo before the World Cup so that he could play in the first two games. He was on a three game suspension. Note that the red card was NOT rescinded--in either case. But he was put on "probation" for the card. You know, "double secret probation".
Certainly, a weird reaction by Belgium as if they're somehow being victimized. If a top player will miss a game for any reason, the opponent usually publicly expresses regret, adding they would prefer to play when both teams have their best players available. This is a rare case when a top player who was expected to be unavailable is now available. You'd think Belgium would welcome the challenge. Bunch of wussies. Go choke on a waffle.
It's like a yellow now because he gets another chance. Clearly the decision reflects that the foul was not agregious enough to be a typical red card punishment. The people who have been clamoring that this was absolutely the right call to use the red card and suspend Balogun for the next game are proven wrong.
The spin you will hear is that it is still a red card. However, it is clearly not serious enough to be a standard red card with the immediate game suspension in place. In fact, if someone brought up this scenario of suspending the red card it would have been summarily dismissed by those who were adamant it was the correct call with no wavering. After all why would a correct call have to be altered?
A second yellow card would have to be given to cause a suspension. This is somewhat worse as I understand it. Any foul called on him (not even to the level of a yellow card) would trigger the suspension. I would call it an Orange card.
I don't think it is any foul gives him a suspension.
The statement from the governing body and World Cup organizer said that if he commits another infringement of similar nature and gravity during the probationary period then the suspension (of the red card) shall be revoked.
The ironic thing here is since the call was wrong to begin with a similar infraction will not be considered similar in nature and gravity by a competent referee and would be considered a yellow card. He needs to commit a foul similar in nature and gravity to a legitimate red card foul which the original call wasn't.