Darryl Baker 🌎 @darrylabaker

Everything, everything, EVERYTHING he touches dies. #USABEL #USMNT

And we got absolute 🦗 from the UEFA members when it came to Ronaldo and his disappearing 2 game ban before the tournament. Their silence spoke volumes about who and what they represent. The process and announcement from FIFA was not good at all. Weak at best but did the right result happen?! That’s my internal debate.

Will Cain @willcain

a week ago

Such a spectacle to see all these euro soccer journalists and federations climb atop a moral high horse to say the integrity of the game demands that an incorrect call, enforced by an incorrect application of VAR, deprive the U.S. of a full squad.

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🇪🇺… Stepping on a players ankle is always a red card. 🇺🇸… You literally gave a yellow card to Messi for the exact same thing. 🇪🇺… A red card always disqualifies you from play. 🇺🇸… You literally suspended several red cards right before the World Cup so the most popular player could participate. 🇪🇺… No a red card during the World Cup has always means suspension from the next game. 🇺🇸… You literally suspended a red card in 1962 for Chile’s best player.

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Regardless of where you stand on Balogun-Gate, the whole reaction to both sides highlights some very key differences in the American vs European mindset. In the American mind, "getting it right" is the most important thing. Thats how justice is served, is by getting to the correct result based on the play on the field. The European mind is different though. They have an instinct towards bureaucracy and are obsessed with process. The Process must be respected. Respecting process is more important than the specifics of what happened on the field. And thats why you get this wild take thats fairly common where a Euro will say something like "He didnt deserve the red card, but once it was given it cannot be overturned!". To the American mind, justice is served by getting the call right, regardless of process. To the European mind, justice is served by respecting process, regardless of the result. Its a fascinating look into the psyche of both, and if I'm permitted a little armchair psychoanalysis of both groups, id say the reason lies in their history. The Europeans spent centuries as the peasant class of Europe, essentially being forced to accept whatever shit the aristocracy piled up on them. There was no "appeals" process, they took what they had too, because there was no other option. In this environment, a certain "acceptance of one's fate" or immunity to overt injustice likely seeped into the national psyches. No one had success by "fighting the power", the power imbalance was simply too great. What eventually saved them though, was process. Rules-based orders were the only thing that gave them a semblance of power vs the aristorcracies of their upper classes. And so they came to revere Process as the Ultimate Good and working OUTSIDE process as the Ultimate Evil. The Americans, on the other hand, never developed their national psyche in the world of Kings and Aristocrats. Class was far less rigid in the new world, and risk-taking WAS highly rewarded there. "Fighting the power" to "do what was right" WAS greatly rewarded during the American Revolution when a few great men "fought the power" and were gifted with what would become the most powerful, prosperous country on Earth. And so a certain disdain against "process" took hold, a general feeling that "process" was only as good as long as it provided fair and just outcomes. As opposed to the European model, where "process " was the only thing that had given them anything close TO "fair and just outcomes". So in that context, the massive gap between both sides makes sense Or maybe this is all nonsense and its just anti-American, pro-Euro tribalism, who knows 🤷🏼‍♂️

The Touchline | 𝐓 @TouchlineX

a week ago

🚨 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Belgium have appealed FIFA's decision to overturn Folarin Balogun's suspension. Balogun could still miss the USA's World Cup clash with Belgium if the appeal is successful before kick-off.

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Has anyone found UEFA’s statement on Ronaldo being allowed to play in the World Cup after his 3 game suspension got delayed? 🦗🦗🦗

Martyn Ziegler @martynziegler

a week ago

UEFA calls FIFA decision on Balogun suspension "unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable"

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Exactly two years ago, UEFA suspended a one-game ban on Jude Bellingham during their literal last tournament. 🤷‍♂️

Simon Stone @sistoney67

a week ago

UEFA fury at Balogun decision. “Yesterday’s decision to suspend for a probationary period of a year the implementation of the one-match automatic suspension following the red card issued to the player Folarin Balogun crossed a red line.   “Football, like any other sports,

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So the USSF followed the appropriate protocols to appeal the red card. And the 18 person committee determined what we have acknowledged all along: the red card was improperly given, and Balogun should play. This is the same process that has been used to overturn the suspension of 4 other players in this World Cup. I fail to see the issue here.

Sophia Cai @SophiaCai99

a week ago

FULL timeline of the campaign to bring Balogun back, according to a half dozen U.S. government & soccer officials: - Wednesday after U.S.-Bosnia match: Andrew Giuliani alerted Trump to the red card (Trump & Giuliani had been talking multiple times/week since start of World Cup

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Here’s the thing, the entire argument falls apart when they call it unprecedented and a UEFA member, Portugal, benefited from the same thing already this tournament as Ronaldo had two games of his suspension deferred.

UEFA @UEFA

a week ago

UEFA statement on the Balogun case: ⬇️ uefa.com/news-media/new…

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It always amuses me when sports fans are like "yes, you should keep that obviously bad decision in place even though everyone knows it was a bullshit call because that's the way we've always done things!"

Quansah red card (for sure right decision) makes US red card ban suspension even more confusing. If that was about misapplied VAR protocol (use of still images), did we not just see the same again?

One of my favorite World Cup revelations is Europeans not knowing who Alaska belongs to

Taner @fmdestekcom

a week ago

Balogun olayından sonra Belçika - Amerika maçı

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1) Balogun is the fifth (5th) player in this WC to have a red card ban adjusted in some way to allow them to play. 2) Review of red cards is a constant in every professional soccer league and it's far from unprecedented to have the full penalty from a dodgy one removed. It's the norm for such decisions not to be final and unreviewable.

Nico Cantor @Nicocantor1

a week ago

Even if Americans are happy that Balogun can now play (myself included), FIFA has just set an insane precedent: Any interpretable red card at the World Cup can now come under scrutiny in hindsight. The referees judgment isn’t final. It hints at the fact that FIFA can do as they

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A huge cultural difference between international soccer and American sports cultures. Americans are used to our athletes saying they prefer to beat an opponent at full strength. International soccer culture - the same culture that produces players pretending to be injured - is fine whinging about a guy being suspended for something he didn’t even do to their team.

Ben Jacobs @JacobsBen

a week ago

🚨 BREAKING: RBFA say they are "astonished" Flo Balogun can play against them and "investigating all potential options". "The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) is astonished by FIFA's decision to declare suspended United States player Folarin Balogun eligible to play in

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I know the rules. When VAR called the head referee over to the monitor, they didn't just use slow motion to show where Balogun's foot landed. They isolated the contact on a slow-motion loop and showed still frames. By looking primarily at slow motion to judge the force of the challenge, the referee violated the core spirit of the rule. Slow motion strips away momentum, makes completely accidental slips look highly calculated, and makes routine contact look incredibly violent. That is exactly why the protocol warns against using it to measure intensity—and why the decision was ultimately viewed as a failure of the system

Ash Williams @_AshWilliams83

a week ago

@davejsports @MattEmbury A potential ankle breaker should never have been a red or reviewed by VAR? Another American not understanding the rules😳 Timw for Belgium to do us all a favour.

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Thank You VOZINHA 🫡

Andrés Cantor has the Telemundo call of Sidny Lopes Cabral's unbelievable equalizer for Cape Verde. ⚽️💥🎙️ #WorldCup

Awful Announcing @awfulannouncing

2 weeks ago

SIDNY LOPES CABRAL DELIVERS AN INSANE GOLAZO EQUALIZER FOR CAPE VERDE IN EXTRA TIME! JOHN STRONG WITH THE FOX CALL! ⚽️💥🎙️ #WorldCup

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Sidny Lopes Cabral with an ABSOLUTE GOLAZO to bring Cape Verde level with Argentina in extra time 😱 INCREDIBLE SCENES

ARGENTINA SURVIVES IN EXTRA TIME TO ADVANCE TO THE ROUND OF 16 ‼️ An incredible fight from Cape Verde in defeat 👏

Thank You Cape Verde! Awesome World Cup!

Still offering all @FIFAWorldCup refs free LASIK...

USMNT Only @usmntonly

2 weeks ago

Just a reminder that USMNT striker Folarin Balogun received a red card after a VAR check on this challenge. Earlier in the tournament, Lionel Messi didn’t get a yellow card or even a VAR check for a similar challenge.

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