A critical element that the "rulebook purists" arguing Balogun deserved a red card are conveniently overlooking:
BALOGUN was the one who was challenged from behind.
The Bosnian player played *through* Balogun from behind and placed himself in the path of Balogun's natural step.
When he begins taking that step, Balogun has no idea the Bosnian player would even be in front of him. In that sense, you can't really even consider his move a "challenge." It was simply a step that incidentally landed in the same place the opponent's foot did.
In fact, the reason Balogun's step came down so hard is *because* the Bosnian player challenged into him and knocked him off balance.
This is not "reckless" or "excessive force" by any stretch of the imagination.
The red card was *obviously* unjustified from the outset. The only thing FIFA got wrong here is not immediately suspending the red card after the match.
@HelloBenWhite@UEFA “A referee say it initially”
Isn’t that not what happened? Isn’t that the problem here? VAR buzzed in when they shouldn’t have and slowed it down when they shouldn’t have. Am I mistaken?
A true FLASH sale!
Oli Marmol has bought out the remaining tickets in the Tarps Off section for both this afternoon's and tomorrow's games and made them available FREE to fans.
Claim your FREE ticket, while supplies last: https://t.co/ngmZ99TG1Z
@Jandystl I think Bernie at @STLSprtsCntrl put it best. I wouldn’t expect Chaim to do anything crazy w/ the current year. Wouldn’t be surprised to see us become sellers with the future being the main focus. Will be sad but not surprised if that happens, but gotta #trust Chaim.