No? Did I say any of that other stuff? So I won't bother to argue things I never said. It's quite clear that red cards being an automatic one game suspension is stupid with virtually no appeal is stupid, It's always been dumb. Let's keep it on the subject I was talking about. People were complaining about it being dumb until Trump got involved and instantly changed their mind because he weighed in on it. Wasn't even Americans complaining, it was these same internationals saying it was harsh and unfair but 'that's how things are'. Well, thank USA for showing that it isn't how things have to be. FIFA has the ability to review red cards and determine punishment just like literally every other sporting organization does. Yes, teams should be able to appeal and review cards. I don't see why this is such a controversial idea. I don't care that other teams do it. Good. Get it right.
There is no situation at all where the government of any country, I don't give a f*** who or where, should get involved in this or any tournament. It's wrong that Infantino even took the phone call. Should there be a appeals process? Yeah. But there isn't currently and to change it mid-tournament after taking a phone call from the orange schmuck, is just wrong, period.
I hesitate to dog on someone for their appearance, but since Nick Wright is an obnoxious public figure I'm just gonna say it... dude is the most aggressively ugly man in all of media, by a significant margin.
Well its far too late because apparently he takes calls from other world leaders, which he admitted to doing. I'm sure Trump had some impact on the decision but also the fact that everyone was saying it was harsh also had some impact on the decision. Which wasn't just americans saying that. My point was if the USA sets a precedent moving forward where there is an actual appeals process than that is better for the game overall. If the USA had lost and Flo didn't play we all know these same people would have said how wrong it was for him to miss that game when Messi did the same thing and didn't get a suspension, that was the narrative before any of this happened anyway that FIFA was rigging/favoring Argentina for some reason.
Bad calls happen in every sport. You don't change the rules mid-season/mid-tournament and you certainly don't do it because President D**kface begged. FIFA and IFAB made plenty of rule changes before the World Cup. If they want to revisit whether there is an appeals process going forward, you do it after the tournament. Whether or not people would be pissed if we lost and didn't have Balogun is absolutely irrelevant.
If the USMT has any principle they need to voluntarily chose not to play Balogun or even forfeit the game.
In every sport they have a reasonable appeal system or review. Like how the NBA reviews practically every tech given. Besides, they didn't invent a new rule, they've always been able to suspend the match bans, they simply decided to do it here. It's the 2nd time they've done it for this tourney alone.
The NBA didn't add the rule to be able to do that mid-season. The discussion we're having is in regards to changing whether they can appeal a card or not...not about the ability of FIFA to suspend the suspension. The Ronaldo situation isn't right either. Just because they had a precedence of doing things that are just ethically wrong doesn't mean do it again. Also...fantastic, they suspended a suspension for a player they knew would likely never play another international match after this tournament, seeing as though he's 41. How magnanimous. That's silly, too. It's not the team's fault and it certainly isn't Balogun's fault. Whatever the outcome of this is on FIFA.
I don't like how this shook down but he should have never been given a red based on limited VAR info. The only thing bad about this is other teams could appeal their red cards prior.
On the Fox coverage it was just said that the US national team raised the issue, looked into the rules, and brought it to FIFA. It's entirely possible, since it's happened now 4 times, that they decided the one match ban was too severe for the weight of the particular match and that Trump didn't have the effect on the decision people think he did. This makes sense to me, these aren't regular matches, this is a win or go home, was the foul really bad enough to ruin USA's whole tournament run over? I don't think so. If you're FIFA, you'd rather USA go off with their full team then be eliminated because of a controversial call. https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-fifa-ban-otamendi-caicedo-196ea65dff44d19b43d7e0835fa42398 “Single yellow cards and pending one- or two-match suspensions . . . are not carried over to the final competition,” FIFA said in a statement, adding it wanted to ensure teams “can compete with their strongest possible squads on the biggest stage of men’s international football.” This seems to be the same mentality they took here. Someone can argue it should have been announced sooner, that I agree with, but it's in their rules that they can do this. It just seems like this year they are doing it a lot more. They reached these other previous THREE decisions for this tourney without Trump weighing in. I mean, when refs can give a red card because a player is covering their mouth, it's a good thing that FIFA can look at this and go "No, this is silly, we're not handicapping a team in the semi finals or quarter finals or round of 16 because of that." now if a player goes off and goes all Zidane and headbutts a player...sure... I don't think there is ever a bad time for common sense to win. This is common sense, he doesn't deserve to miss a full match and a half for a 50/50 red card penalty. I don't care what Trump has to say about it. My opinion on it is completely separate from his and I can't prove that he bribed or forced FIFA to do anything especially since they've just done it three other times for this tournament and stated they just wanted the strongest squads out there. Makes sense to me. If its not egregious, let the players on the field decide who wins or loses, not the refs. I guess this will be my last post on it since its irrelevant. Like the ever wise Zlatan said, its 11 v 11 at the end of the day, no excuses for anyone now.
HAHAHA Absolute loser talk the outcome of the situation was 100% correct, I don’t care if you don’t like the process. FIFA is allowed to alter red card suspension, that is in the rules. You just don’t like it. You are picking and choosing rules you do and don’t like. The FIFA process for most things is shady and not concrete, this follows that 100%, and at least this time, the outcome is correct and that is absolutely the most important thing. these fake soccer “purists” that claim suffering and blatant mistakes are just part of the game can get bent. the comments made by Belgium are frankly, pathetic. No self respecting sports team would put out such a soft and humiliating statement
