‘This was not a red card offense’: Former referee not happy with ‘unfortunate’ call against USMNT star
Folarin Balogun of the U.S. reacts after receiving a red card REUTERS/Carlos Barria
On Wednesday night, the United States Men’s National Team notched a massive victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina to advance to the Round of 16 in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. But they did suffer a rather significant loss.
Early in the second half of the 2-0 victory, USMNT leading scorer Folarin Balogun was sent off with a red card after a VAR review. The call was quite controversial as fans quickly expressed their outrage on social media. But it’s not just the fans who took issue with the call.
Balogun Gets Red Card
Balogun was issued a red card early in the second half after a VAR review for dragging his cleats down the back of Bosnia defender Tarik Muharemovic’s leg and onto his foot.
This play is being reviewed for a potential red card against the US pic.twitter.com/EdyPpgpycA
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The call was not made in real time, but the VAR review deemed that the foul was worthy of a red card. As a result, Balogun was sent off, and the United States was forced to play the remaining 30 minutes of the match with just 10 men.
The United States was able to hold on and win despite Balogun’s absence, but a more pressing problem, however, is that the team will now be without him in their next match, as well.
Referee Disagrees
The call was very unpopular with fans, but it was also unpopular with longtime referee Andy Davies.
Davies is a former Select Group referee, with over 12 seasons working across the Premier League and Championship. After the game, he made it clear that he disagreed with the decision to give Balogun a red card.
“Balogun can feel unfortunate to be red carded in this situation as, in my opinion, this was not a red card offense. With both players challenging for ball, the contact from Balogun on Muharemovic, while it looked bad in slow motion, was purely accidental and an unfortunate result from two players challenging for possession of the ball in a normal football movement,” Davies said, via ESPN.
“VAR made their recommendation to the referee based on slow-motion and still replays, which is not aligned with VAR protocols, as these should be used for only point-of-contact purposes in a red card tackle situation. Once at the screen, however, it would have been a surprise if the referee did not send off Balogun considering the pictures he was presented by VAR,” he continued.
Unfortunately, Balogun will now miss Monday’s match against Belgium, and there is no mechanism for an appeal.
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