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It's a decision that we won't hear the end of any time soon.
After consternation over a controversial VAR call that gave Folarin Balogun of the United States men's national team (USMNT) a red-card suspension, FIFA did the unprecedented. It reversed the call on Balogun at the near-last moment, despite appeals from its men's World Cup Round of 16 opponent, Belgium, ahead of a monster matchup on Monday night in Seattle.
All of this hoopla surrounding Balogun looks so predictably shady. Even if his initial red card was dubious at best, FIFA rescinding a red-card suspension for the first time ever in the middle of the World Cup, partly thanks to a phone call from Donald Trump, looks unfair to an absurd degree.
Let's quickly unpack this fiasco that is allowing Balogun to play in one of the biggest USMNT matches ever.
Here's the thing: The VAR system is flawed. The moment it prompted the referee of the USMNT's match with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32 to review a hard (but accidental) challenge by Balogun, the striker's fate was sealed. Any decision that goes to VAR is likely to be given a red on an automatic basis. It's a kind of broken system that almost makes the human error it's supposed to mitigate seem perfect by comparison.
Technically, no. FIFA even clarified as much after the USMNT's win.
Without any further transparency that sheds more light on what happened behind the scenes, there's no other conclusion to draw: Trump and his presidential administration stepped in. (Never mind that Trump doesn't even know what getting a red card means.) That and FIFA president Gianni Infantino's clear, consistent desire to placate Trump. At the request of a political leader that Infantino wants to continue to court favor with, FIFA broke a six-decade-long precedent to try to help one of the host countries of this World Cup go on a deeper run. Plain and simple. Until FIFA is ever more honest about what happened here (don't hold your breath), this is just the logical assessment of some rather apparent naked corruption.
As a result, Balogun is now allowed to play for the USMNT against Belgium. To be sure, this is not the first time FIFA has made a seemingly corrupt decision out in the open, and it won't be the last. Nonetheless, the optics look terrible, and the international soccer world is right to frown upon the whole process.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Why is Folarin Balogun allowed to play for the USMNT against Belgium?
Continue reading...
After consternation over a controversial VAR call that gave Folarin Balogun of the United States men's national team (USMNT) a red-card suspension, FIFA did the unprecedented. It reversed the call on Balogun at the near-last moment, despite appeals from its men's World Cup Round of 16 opponent, Belgium, ahead of a monster matchup on Monday night in Seattle.
All of this hoopla surrounding Balogun looks so predictably shady. Even if his initial red card was dubious at best, FIFA rescinding a red-card suspension for the first time ever in the middle of the World Cup, partly thanks to a phone call from Donald Trump, looks unfair to an absurd degree.
Let's quickly unpack this fiasco that is allowing Balogun to play in one of the biggest USMNT matches ever.
Why was Balogun given a red card in the first place?
Here's the thing: The VAR system is flawed. The moment it prompted the referee of the USMNT's match with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32 to review a hard (but accidental) challenge by Balogun, the striker's fate was sealed. Any decision that goes to VAR is likely to be given a red on an automatic basis. It's a kind of broken system that almost makes the human error it's supposed to mitigate seem perfect by comparison.
Was the USMNT allowed to appeal the Balogun red-card decision?
Technically, no. FIFA even clarified as much after the USMNT's win.
So, uh, if the USMNT couldn't appeal Balogun's decision, what changed?
Without any further transparency that sheds more light on what happened behind the scenes, there's no other conclusion to draw: Trump and his presidential administration stepped in. (Never mind that Trump doesn't even know what getting a red card means.) That and FIFA president Gianni Infantino's clear, consistent desire to placate Trump. At the request of a political leader that Infantino wants to continue to court favor with, FIFA broke a six-decade-long precedent to try to help one of the host countries of this World Cup go on a deeper run. Plain and simple. Until FIFA is ever more honest about what happened here (don't hold your breath), this is just the logical assessment of some rather apparent naked corruption.
As a result, Balogun is now allowed to play for the USMNT against Belgium. To be sure, this is not the first time FIFA has made a seemingly corrupt decision out in the open, and it won't be the last. Nonetheless, the optics look terrible, and the international soccer world is right to frown upon the whole process.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Why is Folarin Balogun allowed to play for the USMNT against Belgium?
Continue reading...
