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When is enough enough?
When does FIFA get issued a yellow — or even a red — card for its poor performance employing a referee who’s in over his head in the World Cup, the largest global sporting event on the planet?
What the hell are we doing with VAR?
The concept of VAR (video assistant referee) is a sound one — much like replay in the NFL and other sports — in that we want to get the calls right.
But who can possibly argue that match referee Raphael Claus or VAR official Juan Ernesto Soto Arévalo got it right when America’s top striker Folarin Balogun was ejected from Wednesday’s Round of 32 game against Bosnia-Herzegovina with a red card in the 64th minute of a tight match?
This is not some jingoistic pro-American red-white-and-blue-tinted glasses complaint about the U.S. team being wronged.
It’s common damned sense from someone who not only covers the sport as a journalist but is also a fan.
Not even Tarik Muharemovic, the Bosnian player whose right ankle Balogun accidentally stepped on — read: ACCIDENTALLY — would argue that Balogun should have been sent off.
Claus, in fact, never even reached into his pocket to issue a yellow card on the play in real time.
So, what does that tell you?
That he didn’t see the act as flagrant.
What exactly Soto Arévalo saw that spurred him to call for the red card after watching the same replays the rest of the soccer world has seen and is appalled by is an entirely different story.
The decision to red-card Balogun, at its core, was an irresponsible one and one that has taken away one of the most dynamic players in the tournament (and the world) in what will be one of the most-watched sporting events ever Monday night when the U.S. plays Belgium.
Is that good for the sport?
Is it good for the World Cup?
Those questions require no efforts to answer because the answer is too obvious.
The decision to take Balogun away from the U.S. against Belgium absolutely compromises the Americans’ chance to advance.
Balogun has a goal in each of the three World Cup matches he’s played — and he was the best player on the pitch Wednesday night in Santa Clara, where the U.S. survived Bosnia and the egregious VAR gaffe 2-0.
There was absolutely zero intent on the part of Balogun to injure Muharemovic, nor was there intent to impede him from making a move toward goal.
Of course, it was a foul. But both players were chasing a loose ball. Balogun wasn’t even facing Muharemovic when his foot landed on the ankle, but he did land hard on the ankle. Accidentally.
He should have been issued a yellow (warning) card on the play for a careless action. End of story.
You’ve probably seen a dozen videos on social media showing similar plays to the Balogun one that were virtually overlooked — highlighted by Lionel Messi’s intentional takedown of Algeria’s Aïssa Mandi (stepping on the back of his calf with his studs) that received no card.
The Balogun play was a simple play involving two players fighting for possession of the ball — one of a dozen or more similar plays in the match.
And it’s ended in a gross misuse of VAR, making a mockery of the system and FIFA.
Either use it correctly or don’t use it at all.
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The aftermath of Wednesday’s incident does not help the credibility of FIFA either in that no organizational accountability was shown.
Unlike with the NFL, which at least makes an effort to be transparent when it comes to refereeing mistakes, we’ve heard nothing from FIFA.
Per FIFA rules, Balogun was not even permitted to speak to reporters after the match, which is as archaic as it is asinine.
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Not only that, but there is no appeal process in place. So, even if someone from FIFA was to review the incident and deem it as a referee and VAR mistake, the U.S. has no recourse.
What’s done is done.
And as a result of it, the U.S., forced to play without its best offensive weapon against an excellent and seasoned Belgium team, may be done.
The action of VAR in this case and the subsequent inaction of FIFA has left a stain on the beautiful game.
And that’s a damn shame.
Source: New York Post
