USMNT handled Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0, will now face Belgium in the Round of 16
The USMNT handled Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 on Wednesday in the Round of 32 at Santa Clara behind a Balogun first-half strike and a Tillman free kick in the 82nd minute to advance to the Round of 16 against Belgium.
Wednesday night should have been pure celebration because the Americans just won their first knockout-round match since beating Mexico in 2002 and the Golden Generation is moving forward on home soil with the entire country behind them.
Instead the conversation is about a Brazilian referee named Rafael Claus who decided that Folarin Balogun accidentally landing on a defender’s ankle while fighting for a lobbed ball in the 61st minute was worthy of an immediate red card.
Folarin Balogun got a red card for this…
That not only removed the USMNT’s best offensive player from the rest of Wednesday’s match but also suspends him for the Round of 16 against Belgium, which means the Americans are going into the biggest game in a generation without the guy who has three goals in the tournament and has been the most dangerous attacking player on the roster since the opening whistle against Paraguay.
How the fuck is that a red card?
Balogun was fighting for positioning with Tarik Muharemovic on a lobbed ball and came down on the defender’s ankle in a play that had zero malicious intent and was the kind of incidental contact that happens 50 times in every professional soccer match around the world without anyone reaching for a card of any color.
Muharemovic went down like he’d been shot, rolled around on the ground for 30 seconds clutching his ankle like his Achilles tendon was hanging off the bottom of Balogun’s cleat, got the call from the referee, and then stood up and played the rest of the match without any visible issue because the “injury” that warranted a red card and a one-game suspension for the opposing team’s best player was apparently so devastating that the victim was jogging around the pitch five minutes later like nothing happened.
That’s why soccer will always struggle to be taken completely seriously in America.
Not because the sport isn’t beautiful or exciting or compelling, because this World Cup has proven that it absolutely is. But because a guy can roll around on the ground acting like he needs a stretcher, get the opposing team’s best player ejected and suspended, and then stand up and finish the game while the player he got thrown out is sitting in the stands wondering why his tournament just got derailed by a performance that belonged at the community theater rather than the World Cup.
The Call Might Have Changed the Entire Course of the USMNT’s Tournament
Balogun scored in the 45th minute to put the Americans up 1-0 after having an earlier goal correctly disallowed for offside, and through the first 60 minutes he was the best player on the pitch the same way he’s been the best American player in the entire tournament with three goals and a level of attacking creativity that nobody else on the roster can replicate.
His LeBron James celebration after the goal had the stadium rocking and the USMNT was cruising toward a comfortable win before Claus reached into his pocket and changed the trajectory of the entire American campaign with a card that no objective observer with functioning eyes would have given in that situation.
The red card means Balogun can attend the Belgium match at Lumen Field but can’t sit near the field, can’t enter the dressing room, can’t be in the tunnel, can’t sit on the bench, and can’t be anywhere near his teammates during the most important match of their careers.
FIFA’s suspension rules are designed to punish violent conduct and dangerous play, not accidental contact on an aerial challenge where both players were competing for the ball, and applying those rules to Wednesday’s incident is a complete slap in the face to the host country that spent billions of dollars building the infrastructure for this tournament and deserves to have its best players available for the knockout rounds.
The USMNT Won Anyway Because This Team Doesn’t Quit
The Americans played the final 30 minutes with 10 men after the Balogun ejection and not only held the 1-0 lead but extended it to 2-0 when Tillman buried a free kick in the 82nd minute to give the team breathing room and put the result beyond doubt.
FLO BALOGUN
Malik Tillman
Playing 30 minutes a man down in a knockout-round match at the World Cup and adding a second goal instead of retreating into a defensive shell is exactly the kind of mentality that this Golden Generation has shown from the first game of the tournament and it should give every American fan confidence heading into Belgium because this team fights through adversity rather than folding under it.
The win against Bosnia is the USMNT’s first knockout-round victory in 24 years and only the second in the history of the program, which is a milestone that deserves to be celebrated on its own merits regardless of the referee controversy that overshadowed it.
Balogun’s goal was his third of the tournament and cemented his status as the breakout star of the American squad even though the red card means he won’t be on the pitch for the next match. Tillman’s free kick in the 82nd minute was the insurance goal that the Americans needed to make the final minutes comfortable instead of nerve-wracking, and the defense held firm for the final eight minutes to see out the 2-0 win without any late drama.
Belgium Without Balogun Is a Completely Different Challenge
The USMNT was always going to be underdogs against Belgium in the Round of 16 regardless of the roster, but losing Balogun to a suspension for a red card that should never have been given makes the task significantly harder because the Americans have to replace their most productive attacking player against a team that is ranked 10th in the world and has the quality to punish any drop in offensive creativity from the opponent.
Pochettino is going to have to figure out who fills Balogun’s role up top against Belgium and whether the tactical approach changes to account for the loss of the one player who has been the focal point of every American attack in the tournament. Weah, Pulisic, and Reyna are going to have to shoulder more of the attacking burden without Balogun drawing defenders and creating space with his movement, and the Americans are going to need contributions from players who haven’t been primary scorers in this tournament to compensate for the absence of the guy who has been responsible for three of the team’s eight goals.
I said earlier this week that Belgium is very beatable on home soil and I still believe that even without Balogun because the USMNT’s strength at this World Cup hasn’t been about one player but about the collective effort and the crowd support and the mentality that has produced results in every match regardless of the circumstances. But pretending that losing your best attacker to a bullshit red card doesn’t make things harder would be dishonest, and Pochettino is going to have to coach the game of his USMNT career to get past Belgium without the player who has been carrying the offense since the Paraguay opener.
This Is the Worst Call of the Entire World Cup
Every neutral observer who watched the replay agreed that the red card was harsh at best and completely wrong at worst because Balogun was genuinely competing for the ball with no intent to injure and the contact with Muharemovic’s ankle was incidental rather than reckless. The fact that Muharemovic stood up and played the rest of the match without any treatment or substitution tells you everything about the severity of the “foul” that warranted the most severe punishment available to the referee.
The fix might not literally be in because I’m not going to sit here and claim that FIFA is deliberately sabotaging the USMNT, but the optics of a host country’s best player getting ejected on a borderline call in a knockout-round match that was already decided by the time the card was shown are terrible for a sport that is trying to grow its American audience and convince casual fans that the officiating is fair and consistent.
Every American who tuned in Wednesday night to watch the USMNT advance and instead saw their best player get thrown out for an accidental collision while the “injured” defender finished the game without a limp is another potential soccer fan who walked away thinking the sport is rigged in favor of whoever is willing to put on the best acting performance.
Worst call of the entire World Cup so far and it happened to the host country’s best player in a knockout-round match. Unbelievable.
Belgium on Sunday Without Balogun. The Golden Generation Needs to Step Up.
The USMNT advances to face Belgium in the Round of 16 at Lumen Field in Seattle on Monday and they’ll do it without the player who has been the engine of their attack for the entire tournament. Balogun will be sitting in the stands watching his teammates play the biggest match of their lives because a Brazilian referee decided that accidental contact on an aerial challenge was worth a red card and a one-game suspension on the biggest stage in sports.
The boys need to step up without him because there are no excuses and no appeals that are going to put Balogun back on the pitch for Sunday. Pulisic is healthy, Weah has the talent to take over a game when he’s locked in, Tillman proved Wednesday that he can produce in big moments with the free-kick goal, and the defense has been solid enough throughout the tournament that the USMNT doesn’t need to outscore Belgium if they can keep the game tight and create enough chances to win 1-0 or 2-1 without their primary goalscorer.
The USMNT beat Bosnia 2-0, won their first knockout-round match in 24 years, and advanced to the Round of 16 on home soil with the entire country behind them. The red card was a disgrace but the result was never in doubt and the Golden Generation keeps moving forward regardless of what FIFA throws at them.
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I never been so mad, that Ref is right next to Lizardo on my shit list. Hope he never fucking comes back to the USA and if he does, I hope TSA and Homeland stops him and throws him in our worst prison. Fucking idiot. Also, if the USA loses because this call in the round of 16, I will never watch another FIFA match unless it’s the USA playing and we’re a solid team. But never buying merch and my kids are never playing SOCCER. Fucking FIFA and Refs kill everything good.