Here’s a hot take: The U.S. men’s national team should play Monday night’s game against Belgium without Folarin Balogun even though he’s allowed to suit up.
Look, the U.S. didn’t ask to be in this situation. This team didn’t ask FIFA to make a questionable call to send Balogun off, didn’t ask for him to be suspended for a game. But, apparently, we did ask for FIFA to review the call and right the wrong if there was one. And, Sunday, FIFA acknowledged that there was a wrong and righted it — ruling that Balogun can play. Then followed that up Monday, ruling against a Belgian appeal.
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And yet, this just doesn’t feel right.
Do I want Balogun to play?
100%.
(I’d also want Belgium’s best striker to play under the same circumstances, because I wouldn’t want the US. to have an advantage on a bad call.)
But do I want the U.S. to win with a cloud over its head, even if said cloud is a screwup of FIFA’s own making?
No way.
Before gettting sent off, Folarin Balogun gave the U.S. a 1-0 lead against Bosnia and Herzegovina in their round of 32 match.
(Jamie Squire via Getty Images)
This tournament has been such a feel-good moment for the United States, finally stepping up to the world in the game the world cares about the most. We’ve seen Christian Pulisic deliver on the promise foisted on him a decade ago, setting up his mates like a chess master. We’ve come to know Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Malik Tillman, Alex Freeman and Chris Richards. And we’ve watched Balogun become a household name, ripping goals and handling this red card situation like a man.
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“It’s something that’s happened, so we have to move forward, and I have to accept it,” Balogun, himself, said last week.
That’s America right there.
It’s still to be determined if this USMNT squad has fully answered the decades-long questions about why the U.S. hasn’t been able to hang with the best of the best, let alone countries smaller than Massachusetts. But … for the first time in a long time it seems we’ve at least earned the respect of “soccer nations” and their visiting fans who are here having the time of their lives.
But if Balogun plays against Belgium, we know how this is going to shake out: Win or lose, the rest of the world will scream that the U.S. got special treatment. That FIFA caved to the might of the American machine. That the U.S. waged a political war off the field because without it we couldn’t win on the field.
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This team — this run the Americans are on — doesn’t deserve that. And if this group is as good as we think it is, it can overcome playing without its best striker.
So while we can argue that the Balogun red card was a b.s. call — there’s a solid case to be made that it wasn’t a foul on Balogun at all — and that overturning the one-game suspension was the right thing to do, outside of Lubbock, Texas, winning in the courts isn’t our style. Then, Monday night, put our next best 11 up against Belgium’s best 11 and tell the Belgians to bring it on. Because that’s what we do here in America. We take our lumps, fair or not, and push on.
