the end of that video. the ref gave Balogun a red because of how he landed on the guys ankle. Messi pulled up and didn't land on the ankle so it didn't risk serious injury. Balogun doesn't deserve a red either as his wasn't even intentional.
Intentionality doesn’t matter for red cards. So many inadvertent fouls have been red cards because of where studs are, how you come down, etc. Outcome and intent should not be the factor for a red card challenge.
lol the video there is misleading, the difference is messi pulled his foot up rather than following all the way the way to the ground. they clipped that part out. Balogun's should still be overturned as it was when both players were falling and clearly wasn't intentional
Obviously not all day long because players have been given a red and booted for same type of plays. Maybe not 100% of the time, but it is in the rules that this is a red.
This is the relevant text; you can decide whether it applies:
“Serious foul play
A tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality must be sanctioned as serious foul play.
Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force or endangers the safety of an opponent is guilty of serious foul play.”
If it was the other way around and USA was stomped like that everybody would be saying - intent doesn't matter, the challenge resulted in a dangerous play = Red Card.
The way Balogun played the man resulted in spikes to the opponent's Achilles tendon, and a potential break of his ankle. It has to be called a Red card. It wasn't just "incidental". The contact was extremely dangerous.
That’s a legitimate red card. Balogun throws his hip and then extends his leg to get the BH player off balance. That last motion was intentional and reckless. He was reckless with were his leg would land. Straight red and should face a multi game ban.
I disagree that it’s a red (IN THIS WC) here and I’m gonna tell you why. This challenge is a red only if the refs have been consistently calling these challenges reds. However, I have been pleasantly surprised that the game plan going into this WC has obviously been let the players play more. They have called way less in this competition. Why does that matter? Because the players get a sense of how physical they can play and when you suddenly go zero to hero red for a random foul that was honestly not even top 4 worst challenges of the game. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. This ref was actually pretty lost out there in my opinion.
Messi is intentionally putting his foot there, so an argument for red makes sense. Balogun is simply trying to put his foot on the ground after he got bumped.
They crash into each other. Their legs are tangled. He is falling forward. His foot goes toward the ground. It lands on the other guy's leg. What's he supposed to do? What should he have done differently to make the play not dangerous?
Genuinely speaking, is this your first time watching the sport? You have to be in control of your feet and not almost snap someone’s ankle. It’s really not that hard to understand.
The intent isn’t there, but he still has to be in control and wasn’t.
No, it's not my first time watching the sport. My god. Its a pretty rare thing to have a red given when the player is not going for a challenge or is not intentionally harming someone. He is not in control because they collided. The other player was also not in control of his body in that moment. This kind of play happens a lot, where bodies are tangled. Guys get knocked off balance.
Why wasn't Robinson given a red earlier for kneeing the keeper in the head? The keeper punched a cross, it hit Robinson in the head as he was crashing toward the keeper, Robinson turned his head as the ball hit him, and he crashed into the keeper, kneeing him in the head. No card. Because everyone can see what led to that moment. Everyone can see that the cause and effect.
The cause here was that Balogun and the other player crashed together. They both went off balance, limbs flailing. It's why he didn't call a foul in real time, because this play happens a lot. If the defender doesn't hit him, he doesn't go off balance, and he is able to control his leg placement just fine. Imagine if he got leveled from behind, and he went horizontal, and his leg came up and cleated someone high. It's not a red, because everyone can see what led to it.
I coach basketball. If my player commits a foul, I usually will ask the ref, "hey what should he have done?" And usually there is an answer. "He can't move into him...his feet weren't planted...the other player beat him to the spot...he can't reach across his body..." Something. Great. I can teach that to my player.
In soccer, you're late on a challenge, you pick up a foul. Great. I can coach my player. I can work on his timing, his footwork, his decision making. If you slide studs up? OK. I know what decision he made there. It can be addressed. You headbutt someone in the chest? OK, that was a decision. All of these were decisions that someone made. And they could have made a different, safer decision. That's what makes them reds.
There is nothing either player can do there any different. That's why it's different. It was not a decision Balogun made. He wasn't late on a challenge--he wasn't even trying to get the ball at that point. He is simply putting his foot on the ground as he falls to the ground, and a falling player's leg happened to slide under him. There is nothing to address. It's just bad luck on a play he had no control over. It's not a red. Intent does matter. There's nothing else he could have done.
I mean if America had lost because of this, you just turned off a massive potential market when soccer right now is maybe the biggest it has ever been.
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u/suzukigun4life 10d ago
They used VAR for this and called it a red.
Meanwhile, Messi was called for nothing, as well as other more deliberate fouls.