Folarin Balogun will be on the field Monday when the U.S. men’s national team faces Belgium in the Round of 16. That much is settled. FIFA overturned his red card from the Bosnia and Herzegovina win, a decision that stunned plenty of people inside and outside the sport.
But not everyone is celebrating. And one former USMNT player is genuinely bothered by how this all went down.
Herculez Gomez, who played for the U.S. at two World Cups, went on ESPN FC and made it clear he thinks FIFA broke its own rules to let Balogun play. And he didn’t sugarcoat it.
Gomez: ‘They’re making the rules up as they go’
Balogun’s red card came in the 64th minute of that 2-0 win over Bosnia. He went in hard on Tarik Muharemovic. In real time, it looked dangerous. The referee saw it that way and sent him off.
FIFA reviewed it and let him off. Gomez said that’s not how this tournament is supposed to work.
“There is no appeal process here at this FIFA World Cup,” Gomez said. “They’re not allowed to do this. This is moving the goal post on the players, because all you want as a player is, if the referee is going to be bad on the field, be bad consistently. So the players can get used to it. So the players can adapt. There is no way to adapt here.”
Gomez admitted he didn’t think it was a red card in real time. But that’s not really the point he’s making.
“Can you reverse it? And it’s not even the rules to allow it to be reversed. It’s unprecedented. This is literally them making the rules up as they go.”
He did acknowledge the upside for American fans. Balogun is the team’s best goal scorer and a legitimate X-factor against Belgium. If you’re a USMNT supporter, you’re thrilled.
But for everyone else?
“If you’re anybody but a US men’s national team fan, this feels off,” Gomez said. “It feels like the host nation is gaining a favor here.”
And yeah, the U.S. is the host nation for this World Cup. That part isn’t lost on anyone.
FIFA has not publicly explained its internal reasoning beyond the reversal itself. The referee’s initial call stands as a judgment on the field, but the governing body essentially overruled it after the fact. That kind of thing almost never happens during a World Cup.
The debate will keep going. But Monday night, Balogun will be out there. Whether the decision was fair or not, the U.S. gets its striker back for the biggest game of the tournament so far.
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