Mauricio Pochettino isn’t apologising for FIFA’s decision to restore the eligibility of U.S. men’s national team striker Folarin Balogun after he was originally shown a red card in the Round of 32 and suspended for at least one match.
Balogun had been expected to miss the host nation’s huge Round of 16 clash with Belgium on Monday, with the one-game suspension meaning he could only play if the USA made it to quarterfinals. That was overturned, quite controversially, at the end of the weekend.
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The ruling revolved around a relatively obscure item in the World Cup disciplinary code, which suggests Balogun’s red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina should not have been referred by VAR and therefore shouldn’t have been awarded. FIFA decided to swap the suspension for a one-year probationary period (notably, after Trump called FIFA personally).
While Pochettino wasn’t a driving force in the suspension being overturned, he’s certainly not complaining now. “I don’t understand how people can be surprised. This has happened in the past. It’s not something extraordinary that’s only happened for us,” he said.
“We have seen many plays in this World Cup that were not punished, and I’m happy for this, because it would have been unfair.
“We were punished enough against Bosnia and Herzegovina to play with 10 men 30 minutes in a decision that was completely unfair.
“It’s not only because I am the head coach of the national team and I need to defend my side. It’s because I see 100% – or 99%, because always some people – we all agree that was an unfair red card.
“Today, we are not here talking between us because if we concede a goal and we play 30 minutes more… and we go and play 30 minutes more, more than one hour, and we concede again and we lose the game, today we are not talking and no one is going to talk about this.”
He pointed out the USA weren’t the bad guys, and that it had happened before.
On that front, Cristiano Ronaldo carried two games of a three-game suspension into this tournament, received the same treatment, and has appeared in every Portugal game. Go back further and there’s Garrincha in 1962, ejected from Brazil’s semifinal against Chile, cleared to play the final, and lifting a second world title as Brazil beat Czechoslovakia.
“The problem is not VAR. It’s how we are going to use [it],” Pochettino then pointed out. “Who is going to drive the Ferrari or Mercedes?”
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“To lose a game in the World Cup is tough for a player. If a player we are going to face in an unfair way is suspended, and he cannot be able to play for your national team, it’s really tough,” he continued.
“Because after, you maybe need to wait four years.”
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