Pochettino blasts politics and manipulation after Balogun red card saga

Mauricio Pochettino said he was “disappointed with too many people” who dragged “politics and manipulation” into the Folarin Balogun red-card dispute, as the argument around the forward threatened to swamp the U.S. men’s World Cup run. The controversy began at Lumen Field in Seattle, where Balogun scored the opening goal in a 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 1 before referee Raphael Claus sent him off in the 64th minute after a VAR review.

The decision initially carried an automatic one-match suspension that would have ruled Balogun out of the round-of-16 against Belgium. FIFA’s disciplinary committee later lifted the ban, saying on July 6 that reviewing red cards was “nothing new in the modern game,” while also levying a USD 40,000 fine and declaring U.S. Soccer jointly liable. Pochettino defended the challenge in the immediate aftermath, saying it was “never a red card,” and Balogun said he expected controversy but insisted it did not affect the result.

The reversal pulled the dispute far beyond one foul on Tarik Muharemovic. Donald Trump said he asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino to review the suspension, and the move drew a formal challenge from the Belgian Football Association. UEFA then accused FIFA of having “crossed a red line,” calling the reversal unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable. FIFA said the disciplinary committee had acted within its code and used its discretion.

The episode left the U.S. facing Belgium with its eligibility fight still dominating the conversation, even though the match in Seattle had already shown the strain of the moment. Balogun’s goal and dismissal were the defining moments of the Bosnia and Herzegovina win, and the off-field storm around his suspension became another test of how much of the U.S. story was about officiating drama and how much was about a team struggling to control the chaos around it.