🚨 Patrice Evra on Folarin Balogun’s red card during USA vs Bosnia and Herzegovina compared to Lionel Messi’s challenge against Algeria:
🗣️ “This is exactly why people are losing faith in VAR. One incident is punished with the harshest decision possible, another similar incident is brushed aside. Explain to me how that makes sense.”
“I watched the Balogun challenge and immediately thought about the Messi incident against Algeria. Football fans are not blind. They remember these moments, and they compare them.”
“What frustrates me isn’t just the red card—it’s the lack of consistency. If you’re going to be strict, then be strict with everyone. If you’re going to let the game flow, then let it flow for everyone.”
“The USA have every reason to feel hard done by. You’re playing a World Cup knockout match, you lose a player, and people are left wondering why the same standard wasn’t applied elsewhere.”
“You cannot build trust in VAR if supporters leave every big game arguing about different decisions. The technology should remove doubt, not create even more controversy.”
“People keep saying the laws are the same for everyone, but nights like this make that very difficult to believe. The biggest stars should never receive different treatment from everyone else.”
“If football wants credibility, then every challenge has to be judged the same way, whether it’s Balogun, Messi or any other player on the pitch. That’s the only standard fans will ever accept.”
As a Canadian, I have no horse in this particular race… BUT, that’s never a red card on Balogun. And if it is, then how the hell did Messi not get sent off for the identical thing in the group stages?
As always, lack of consistency in VAR and Ref decisions.
Iconic Tillman free kick. Favorite USA goal of my lifetime other than the Donovan/Algeria goal. Still reeling from the dubious red card on our best guy…, one team grabbed jerseys for 2 hours to stop advantages, the other team had an awkward collision somehow become a red… what?
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Neil Armstrong, and every person from generations past who made the present possible are looking down proud at this moment.
Just a reminder that USMNT striker Folarin Balogun received a red card after a VAR check on this challenge.
Earlier in the tournament, Lionel Messi didn’t get a yellow card or even a VAR check for a similar challenge.
This Malik Tillman strike will live on forever in USMNT history.
Couple that with the heart & guts of a team that spent half an hour down a man in a knockout game yet still posted a clean sheet and it’s a performance that unites a country.
What a win. 🇺🇸