Balogun suspension lifted—will be eligible vs Belgium

Okay so again it sounds like your argument is one bad act, not having a regular system of overturning red cards, justifies another bad act, having the government of the United States directly pressure FIFA to get a suspension overturned. Does that fairly sum up your argument?

 

As I said, you can find anything you want on the internet. Some of you need to get offline.

And second, how are any of these tied to Trump's actions?

You are insane if you think this video about Elfath and Messi isn't 100% driven by the weird strain of Ronaldo fanboys and anti-Messi people.

 

It took me a 5-second search to find out that Elfath has officiated a grand total of... 5 games involving Messi. That's not exactly a large sample size. Oh, yeah, on one (2022 WCF) he was the 4th official, not even part of the crew. So call it 4 games. Puhleez. This is the kind of pre-emptive "It's rigged!" stuff that all the nutjobs put out. They don't ever have to present proof and get an excuse if things don't go their way.

FIFA may have 99 problems, but this ain't one of them.

 

The ref was fine. England have only themselves and Messi to blame.

 

Europeans schizo-posting about biased refs makes them (and anyone who believes their flimsy logic) look like morons, not people we should listen to. England completely collapsing under pressure? No, couldn't be! It's gotta be rigged! Multiple-time World Cup winners beat an England team that was in close games all tournament long? Can't be!

Occam's Razor says it's not coming home. C'est la vie.

 

Messi stepping on Spence was identical to the foul that called back the goal earlier in the tournament.

 

A player played in a game that he shouldn't have been allowed to play in because the president of his country made a phone call to the president of FIFA and said he needs to play. And you are wondering why everyone is going on about biased refs?

Those were the first articles and videos that popped up. Very top of a google search. Not a deep search by any stretch. Which is the point. Conspiracy theories will always exist, but saying hey we're going to let a guy play who shouldn't because we want to make the president happy just super charges them.

At the end of the day we are the bad guys. We did something that would have been condemned up and down by everyone on this board. If the government of any other country in this world cup has pressured FIFA to allow their top striker back into a match he should have been suspendered for we all would have said it's corrupt, not right, and a mark against the integrity of the competition. Which it is. But because it's the US everyone has said it was fine and tried to justify and or minimize.

It's not. It's really really not. This is not okay.

So yeah seeya. I'm done. Don't feel like defending US Soccer for 4 years. Will enjoy SDFC, and Liverpool. Also looking forward to going to the UK to watch the Euro's in '28, and will check in on the World Cup in '30. But as a neutral. Don't want to be associated with a bunch of thin skinned whiney soccer fans who can't handle a red card.

 

If I got to decree the LOTG as God Emperor of Soccer, I would first require that all FIFA officials guilty of serious corruption would be force-marched naked through the streets with the sisters of the sept pointing at them and chanting “shame!” Of course, first I’d have to get more sisters for the sept. Otherwise they’d injure themselves with all the pointing.

But after that, I’d consider changing how cards work, including by adding a sin bin. Maybe something like the first yellow in a game resulting in 10 minutes in the sin bin. Second yellow, 20 minutes. Third yellow becomes a red and thus an ejection.

 

Also, if there is going to be a moment at which popular sentiment turns so aggressively on FIFA that the World Cup comes under threat and FIFA’s perceived illegitimacy imperils its control over the global game, it’ll have to be way worse than the Balogun incident. Choosing a host that clearly was never going to be able to host the tournament in summer while pretending it could be hosted in summer and giving that host carte blanche to endanger the lives of the construction workers being held in indentured servitude by their employers, that didn’t do it. So Balogun’s overturned red card? Not likely to move the needle, whether or not one thinks it should.

 

Yeah, it's called "cope" in Gen Z slang. The European team, in this case, England, can't lose legitimately to a team like Argentina. They don't have enough EPL players, and Maradonna got away with the Hand of God, so the only rational explanation is the American ref loves Messi so much that he makes England crap the bed and lose via... mind control or something.

Cope. That's all that is.

 

A player had his leg broken only a few games prior. That got referees to place more focus on curbing any tackle that was reckless and potentially dangerous.

It was a red. No one who has ever actually played would say otherwise. If someone came sliding in on me the way Balogun did, almost snapping my ankle, there'd be hell to pay if the referee didn't send him off.

 

I’m not sure what planet you live in if you think Balogun was sliding. What a weak troll attempt.

 

The biggest actual tipping point was FIFA’s push for a World Cup every two years. Which UEFA was very much against and pushed back hard and got FIFA to back down. But that was the thing closest to actually putting FIFA under threat.

More generally the only real risk to FIFA would be if UEFA ever threatened to breakaway. Because it’s those countries who are driving the majority of the revenue even if they are often outvoted by other confederations. But only the World Cup every two years has come close to that line.

 

Purists get all cranky with me when I go off on this tangent, but I 100% agree.

In terms of penalty systems, hockey's is the best.

Why? Because while soccer's is ridiculous blunt and either too weak or punitive, hockey has a range of advantages to give a team -- and given that these are low scoring sports, the 2:00 of power play is far more an advantage than a simple free kick most times.

And while something like basketball has a good balance on penalty, the problem there is that free throws are boring.

But hockey? Power plays and penalty kills make the game more exciting! They add a new tactical element and skill set.

It would also help alleviate some of the other not so great parts of soccer. It's much harder to play a boring ass haram ball if you're going to be down a man for a decent part of the game. It's also less incentive to do so if you are going to be up for the next five minutes.

And the increase in scoring that would come would be a nice by product -- which also lessens the chances of going to pens in knockouts.

 

I think neither is going to be enough to move any needle, but I do think the average joe cares very much more about their own team's success than people dying in Qatar.

 

Wasn't a tackle. Wasn't sliding. And there's a slew of former refs and players who said it wasn't a red.

Clearly, though, you know.

 

The actually tipping point is simply the shift of money. FIFA keeps adding ways it controls money -- CWC, expanded World Cup, and yes a bi-annual World Cup would as well -- at the expense of how UEFA controls money -- Champions League, the Euros.

I don't want an every two years World Cup, personally, but for UEFA, it's simply about how much of the cash they hoard versus the rest of the World.

 

Tell me you didn't actually see the play without telling me you didn't actually see the play.

 

I’d also note good reporting here on how globally the Balogun incident has already blown over amongst the various stakeholders.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7444334/2026/07/16/gianni-infantino-fifa-president-future/

 

Yep.

Anyone outside of Europe was never going to care. The checks are coming in, and every last one of them understands Europe's objections are financial, not moral. And they are on the other end of that equation.

Europe is simply trying to hold onto it's hegemony. No one wants that aside from Europe, and the non-Europe outvotes Europe.

Frankly, Infantino sucks and corruption sucks, but so does gatekeeping and the hoarding of resources, and if anything this World Cup has proven is that Europe is the entrenched power structure that would not be so dominant if the money were more equitably distributed.

 

If the USMNT had won that game against Belgium, and continued on in the event, we wouldn't hear the end of it.
But the nature of the Belgium-USMNT game rendered that whole debate kind of moot.

Frankly, that situation was terrible for the USMNT on the field. I personally think it weighed on the players. I'm not a sports psychologist, though.

........................if I remember, Infantino ran unopposed during the last election for FIFA President. So, there's that. If UEFA wants to present a candidate to run against Infantino, then go for it.

We know the leader we all want in the position!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Anyone see the report that one person on the judicial committee made the decision. He and he alone. For all those that want to believe it followed a fair process and corruption didnt happen.

 

I first read about it in the NYT/Athletic, but this is what I could find online to link:

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/man-behind-folarin-balogun-red-040303268.html?guccounter=1

 

Absolutely.
I never thought I'd ever be glad that the U.S. lost a game, but it has finally happened.