Balo went 73 in a 5-3 win. They were up 3-2 when he went off, added a 4th soon after he was subbed out, Nantes pulled within 1 later in the game but Golovin got the insurance in IT. Balo with a nice goal, also one of the ugliest skied shots off a breakaway that was not unlike the one he scored. Also came reasonably close to a great goal off his hustle a bit after he scored - bullied himself to get the ball on the goal line, but the angle was too tight to sneak it into the open goal. Good active game from Balo. Nantes 2nd was a bit of Keystone Kops, altho credit Nantes attackers for not quitting despite being outnumbered in the box. Goal around 7:30 in the highlights. Missed shot a bit before.
BTW, win keeps Monaco in 2nd, just ahead of Marseille and 1 pt behind the usual suspect. (Lyon in 5th, Toulouse in 9th after tying Rennes today to round out the YA table update.)
He's looked good for the US since he came on in the S Korea game and made a big difference. I was hoping his club play would start showing it.
Goal and a red card today at halftime. I don’t have access to the game to see the red. Goal was a pk. Edit - Twitter suggesting the red was incredibly harsh.
I just took a look after seeing that and I’m not sure why that was a red. He stepped on the guy’s foot. It wasn’t a harsh attack. His cleats were not up. He just stepped on the guy’s foot when he was going by by accident, commentators are confused all they can think of is Maybe he said something to the ref but he didn’t look angry or anything. It was weird really really weird
on the positive side, he will be able to play both games in the international break and have a week off after.
Balo with a good chance but can get enough power or placement at about :30. PK, which comes from some nice footwork, and a savvy reaction to the challenge comes about 3:15. Good decoy on the PK to fool the keeper, if he doesn't go the wrong way tho, that shot's not going in. 6 mins or so for the RC. Has to have been something he said, because he caught the guy's instep/ankle but it was in no way malicious or violent.
From L'Equipe: AS Monaco's general manager, Thiago Scuro, found the sending-off of striker Folarin Balogun "unacceptable" during the 1-4 home defeat against RC Lens on Saturday evening, in the 12th round of Ligue 1, calling into question the French football refereeing organization. "For me, it's unacceptable that there was a red card, especially when judged against the referees' own criteria in the game. Other similar incidents during the match went unpunished." “We don’t understand why VAR didn’t intervene in this situation,” he declared in the mixed zone after the match. The Monaco executive also criticized the entire refereeing system in France: “As long as we only discuss the mistakes on the pitch and not the organization behind the referees—who trains them, who guides them—we won’t move forward.” “I don’t know if it’s a French problem, but I know it’s not good,” he continued. “Not just for Monaco. Every weekend, there are controversies surrounding refereeing decisions in Ligue 1. Instead of talking about the players, about quality matches, we talk about the referees. It’s never positive!” lamented Thiago Scuro, who also took the opportunity to mention the schedule, which he considers too congested. In the space of seven days, his players hosted Paris FC (0-1), before traveling to Bodö/Glimt on Tuesday for a Champions League match (1-0), and then, of course, losing to RC Lens this Saturday.
I was watching and that was an exceptionally soft red card. Balo did step on the other players foot but with no particular violence or bad foot angle. If this was red, you could send 2-3 players off in every single game. It was bizarre. It seemed very fishy to me
I thought it had to be something he said, the contact was completely run of the mill and Balo had not been particularly nasty previously.
Not to be paranoid, but that was a weirdly soft red. If I was suspicious of bribery, this play and call would be examined as evidence.
Except the PK handed to Balo, while a PK, could easily not have been called... unless it's on some odd parlay of like "Will there be a Red Card in the game" or something. The only theories that make sense to me are: 1) Ref felt (after the fact) like Balo tricked him on the PK call somehow and this was a make-up call - pros: Balo did do a bit of an aircraft carrier, but Con - it was contact and easily a foul and it didn't appear Balo showboated over it too much. 2) Balo said something that got him the Red. To me most likely, tho that does not seem to be Balo's MO and the convo didn't have that vibe - tho some of it was not on TV that I watched. 3) It just looked worse live from the Refs angle and he got it wrong. 3 is most likely, but it was really soft in any event.
After the NBA stuff and now MLB with rumors of college and other sports I couldn't help but also have this cross my mind.
Betting is turning many sports into professional cycling. Just have to assume there's cheating going on and live with it. I cannot imagine actually betting on these games anymore - 0% certainty that it's real. Clase is making $6.5mm a year and he's now getting a lifetime ban - but he still thought it was a good idea. It's only going to get worse.