Red was harsh at the time, it wasn’t at all cynical and the ref had been letting the teams play very openly the whole game, I don’t think he had issued a single card yet.
That said, once the red card is given you can’t be doing this ridiculous corruption.
The still image doesn’t tell the story on this one. I didn’t think it was a red either live or after watching replays. I agree the overturning is a ridiculous fiasco and it should stand after the fact, but the action pictured was a result of momentum leaving him little choice of where to go. This specific point of contact wasn’t an attempted tackle at all imo.
Belgium threatening to file illegal player suit against USA if Balogun plays today.
Back to actual football a couple 1st half chances including what looked like an easy chance for Spain pulled wide but 0-0 in 2nd half.
Spain has still yet to allow a goal at this world cup
Phew. We squeaked by there. Portugal are always tough.
This quite literally does not matter when it comes to the situation.
There is no this was intentional vs this was not intentional in the rules when it comes to sliding into a player studs up.
Its the reason he was given a straight red card.
Ok, this is funny.
Statement from Belgian FA. The entire charade by FIFA stinks to high heaven.
RBFA STATEMENT UPDATE
Following its previous statement, the RBFA wishes to publicly explain the events of the past few hours.
After learning through media reports of FIFA’s decision to lift the automatic suspension of player Balogun, the RBFA sent a letter to FIFA requesting a copy of the decision, an explanation of the process that had been followed, and setting out its position regarding the applicable regulations.
As its only response, FIFA sent a letter to the RBFA stating that it considered this correspondence to constitute an appeal, that a judge had been appointed, and that the RBFA had only a few hours to complete that appeal. No information whatsoever was provided by FIFA.
For an appeal to be admissible, FIFA’s own regulations state that the reasoned decision must first have been communicated to the appellant. While the RBFA was merely seeking legitimate explanations, FIFA itself created an appeal and immediately ensured that it would be declared inadmissible.
All of this occurred while FIFA simultaneously refused to respond to the RBFA’s legitimate requests.
Furthermore, during the match coordination meeting, FIFA deliberately removed the section concerning the automatic suspension of players from its presentation. This topic had nonetheless been part of all such meetings before each of the previous four matches. The RBFA questioned FIFA, both orally and in writing, about the reasons for this change, yet once again received no response.
To be clear, as of this moment, the RBFA has still not received any decision or any explanation from FIFA regarding this matter. It therefore has no alternative but to challenge the player’s eligibility for the upcoming match.
Regardless of the sporting outcome of this match, the RBFA is deeply concerned by the course of events and will continue to fight in the coming hours, days and months in defence of the fundamental principles of ethics, fair competition, and the interests of football as a whole.
“We”?
Sorry, I don’t recall your heritage. You live in London, lived in the US for a spell (or was that Canada, and for Boarding School?), have a Brazilian wife, root for RM, but there are exactly ZERO RM players on Spain…
I am Spain/UK/Brazil. Thats my background in terms of passports/residences. Lived in the US for 10 years and Canada for 6 years.
Amusingly, our little one supports Spain over Brazil because (quoting a 6 year old) Brazil always loses lol
She is an expert! I’d love to see her talk down to Lalas.
Now that Trump is invested, we’ll be treated to tirades of how the game was stolen, whenever USA loses.
Round of 32, by Confed:
UEFA: 13 (out of 16)
CAF (Africa): 9 (10)
CONMEBOL (SA): 5 (6)
CONCACAF (NA): 3 (6, only the hosts)
AFC (Asia): 2 (9)
OFC: 0 (1)
Round of 16:
UEFA: 7 (3 eliminated by other UEFA)
CAF: 2
CONMEBOL (SA): 4
CONCACAF (NA): 3
AFC (Asia): 0
OFC: 0
QFs, so far (prior to BEL-USA):
UEFA: 4, max 6
CAF: 1, max 2
CONMEBOL (SA): 0, max 2
CONCACAF (NA): 0, max 1
AFC (Asia): 0
OFC: 0
Deploying hundreds of FBI agents…
Even Trump can’t believe that was cheating.
I guess all those country roads can take them home now, huh?
How long til the Belgium team has their visas cancelled?
As soon as the waffles are delivered
All that for that embarrassment?
