FIFA: Destroying Football Since 1904

[Glenda's Legs]

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/07/05/world-cup-2026/inside-the-white-house-push-on-balogun-00987540

 

[Jurgen the German]

I'm not one for conspiracy theories but...

Think it absolutely makes you wonder a bit more about some of the bizarre decisions that host countries have had the benefit of in previous World Cups. Those who think 2022 was rigged for Messi now have some more ammunition. This is the first time we've seen it being done so openly.

If the US get any beneficial decisions from here, people are going to cry foul...and you couldn't blame them.

This is genuinely an absolute head scratcher. Breathtaking really.

Re the 2022 World Cup, Argentina got some soft penalties but nothing out of the ordinary, certainly not enough to make me think it was rigged for Messi to win it. If Kolo Muani finishes that chance in extra time then Argentina most likely lose the match.

 

[jts1882]

View attachment 22848

Balogun is a birthright citizen*, something Trump is trying to ban. He lost an attempt to ban it in the supreme court last week.


* His mother was visiting her sister in New York when pregnant. She was denied boarding on the flight back because she was too big at seven months.

 

[P.D.]

Re the 2022 World Cup, Argentina got some soft penalties but nothing out of the ordinary, certainly not enough to make me think it was rigged for Messi to win it. If Kolo Muani finishes that chance in extra time then Argentina most likely lose the match.

Maybe getting Muani on the pitch was the bribe all along!!!!!!

 

[DeanoAustin]

Re the 2022 World Cup, Argentina got some soft penalties but nothing out of the ordinary, certainly not enough to make me think it was rigged for Messi to win it. If Kolo Muani finishes that chance in extra time then Argentina most likely lose the match.

I don't for one second believe that 2022 was rigged. Not in a million years.

However, 2002 (South Korea) and 1978 (Argentina)...there is probably a bit more weight behind those accusations.

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

Did we not all think that red card decision was wrong?
Is it not justice that it has been overturned?
I'm sure it's not the first red card to ever be over turned, although I can't think of a specific one.

Those have been reds all season unless your names Havertz and you play for Arsenal..

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

A player missing a match because of a bad decision happens fairly regularly. What doesn't happen is the government of the country intervening to ensure he can play. It makes a mockery of the game and the tournament. It's an absolute joke of a decision and how anyone could possibly defend it, regardless of the actual decision during the match, is beyond me.

I hope he plays and Belgium fudging spank them.

Maybe this will be the wake up call that the game needs to stop allowing completely dumb VAR controversies to happen. They have the technology, and they have all the time they need to make sure that they get decisions right, and apply the rules consistently. These refs and VARs keep failing to do so.

I think it is completely grubby what Trump and FIFA have done. I don’t like to see my football competition’s compromised this way. But this is not the decision that exemplifies it. Messi staying on, and Ronaldo having his ban suspended should be equally as egregious to people upset by this. FIFA are trying to make as many money as possible out of this World Cup. It means hydration breaks, ad revenue, and it means viewers. They went their best players on the pitch, and they’ve decided money is more important than pure sporting integrity. So it puts paid to the idea that the Portuguese FA are going to ‘stand with Belgium / UEFA’ against FIFA. Equally, we’ve seen Starmer get involved to get the kick off back in its original spot, and Mexico seemingly try and game the system to their own advantage too. It is all horribly grubby, but that seems to be the game at the very top in this day and age.

However, I’m more angry at the application of VAR than I am with FIFA. I’m seeing a lot of ‘this is just football, we all accept it’ when players have to deal with unjust cards. But the game needs to be better in this era. We can’t keep getting this stuff wrong. The player doesn’t deserve to miss out on a match at a tournament that comes around every 4 years because officials who don’t play the game made an idiotic decision.

It is completely grubby. But if it takes Trump throwing his weight around to start getting consistency and common sense applied to the application of VAR, then good. These dumb decisions that ruin football matches need to stop.

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

yes it would be fair because that is football. Thousands of wrong decisions every year in all leagues, high and low that impact leagues and cup competitions. None of them are reviewed and suspended (note, the offence was accepted to have happened and if he does it again he will incur the penalty, not that the offence was overturned).

Balogun stepped on someone else's heel, foot up studs first. Ref looked at it on VAR and called it. That should have been the end of it.

So many players miss out over a wrong yellow card that leads to an accumulated suspension or a wrong call. Others get away with it. Just life. Why should one case get exceptional, and this is totally exceptional, treatment and every other case just be left on merit?? The joy of football is that it should be a level playing field at each level. This shows it isn't.

FIFA are wrong to get involved. USA and Pochettino should not select him but will.

I think it hasn’t been rescinded because FIFA doesn’t have a process for that at this tournament. I am unsure why. But they chose this article 27 thing because it gives them legal cover. Rescinding the card would have left them open.

Balogun did step on someone else’s heel. It’s really unfortunate and would have been painful for the Bosnia player. But surely serious foul play has to have a higher standard than this? It wasn’t just a lack of intent, it was an inability to put his foot on the floor, because the Bosnia guy and he got tangled. There’s nothing else he could have done. It’s unfortunate but I think it’s nonsense that this gets given as a red card.

I even thought Quansah’s was harsh. It was a wet pitch, and the ball basically propelled him further forward into the Mexican player. Also thought he got there easily first and the Mexico player sort of stuck his leg in. But, I get why, even though there was no intent from Quansah, he still could have done something else. Unfortunately his studs were up, and he chose to make that sort of tackle, and it ends up being a dangerous looking tackle. I get it.

But this idea of being able to slow down frame by frame to prove that a player’s studs were in the other guys ankle just needs to stop. I’d say that if England / Spurs were benefiting or whether we aren’t. It’s not even just about intent, and my point is the standard needs to be ‘could the player have reasonably done anything else’ and if so, I don’t think the punishment needs to be as hard as a red. So it will be rarer that it isn’t a red even under my bar, but I still think the application of the rules just needs to be better. VAR is getting involved in things it just shouldn’t be in, and bringing an impossible standard that players won’t be able to meet much of the time.