Pochettino regrets not being sufficiently involved in Balogun’s appeal — Channel NewsAsia
In the United States, national football team head coach Mauricio Pochettino said he regrets not being sufficiently involved in the decision to appeal forward Folarin Balogun’s sending-off at the World Cup. As Channel NewsAsia reports, the coach believes the controversy surrounding the decision changed the atmosphere in the team ahead of the Round of 16 match against Belgium.
Appeal after the sending-off
Balogun received a red card in the Round of 32 match in which the United States defeated Bosnia. FIFA’s disciplinary committee later suspended his one-match ban for a year, allowing the forward to play against Belgium.
The decision sparked controversy after US President Donald Trump said that he had intervened in the case. According to him, he asked FIFA President Gianni Infantino to review the situation. Pochettino noted that he perhaps should have been more actively involved in the events after the match against Bosnia, which, in his view, led to a further negative development of the situation.
Defeat to Belgium
The US team advanced from the group and defeated Bosnia, raising hopes of reaching the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2002. However, the Americans lost 1-4 to Belgium in the Round of 16.
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The Argentine coach said that changing the punishment after the referee’s decision to send off the player could have affected the next match. At the same time, he does not believe that different tactics, strategy or squad selection would have changed the team’s performance against Belgium.
Pochettino also called on the US Soccer Federation to narrow the circle of people making decisions on appeals against red cards. According to him, such matters should be resolved within a much smaller structure, guided by a sporting approach and common sense.
The Belgian Football Association previously said it would not support Infantino’s bid to serve another term as FIFA president without proper explanations regarding the Balogun case and other issues related to the organization’s governance. The association also asked for the matter to be placed on the agenda of the next FIFA Council meeting on October 15.
