The United States beat Bosnia & Herzegovina and is going to be facing Kevin De Bruyne and Belgium in the Round of 16. While the fans are happy to have made it to the next round, the fear is that they will go into the game without Folarin Balogun, who was sent off. And a former MLS star thinks that the whole situation is wrong.

“Yeah, I thought it was a sham. I thought it was an absolute disgrace,” said Michael Lahoud taking about the red card. “FIFA have a problem in their hands, and it’s called VAR. It’s a three-letter acronym that’s an absolute farce.”

The United States finally celebrated a World Cup knockout win after 24 years, but one moment pushed down all of that happiness. After scoring his 3rd goal of the 2026 World Cup, Balogun was involved in a clumsy challenge on Tarik Muharemović.

The VAR asked the ref to review Balogun’s challenge. And in the video, we could see that the forward’s studs were right on Muharemović’s ankle. After reviewing the video, the referee gave the USA player a straight red.

The decision quickly became the biggest talking point, with former USMNT midfielder Michael Lahoud, who is now questioning VAR’s consistency in games.  

“VAR is ruining the game of soccer,” Lahoud said after the match. 

For Lahoud, the ruling should have been yellow, given it was incidental contact. In his words, it was just “clumsiness” between two players, nothing more. Lahoud then pointed to the incident of Lionel Messi vs Algeria and questioned why the ruling was any different then.

“If you’re gonna send off Flo Balogun, you better send off Lionel Messi. It has to be equal footing, ” said Lahoud. Then he asked a brutal question to FIFA, “Now it starts to beg the question: do your superstars get special treatment at a World Cup?” 

Lahoud also hoped that the United States would appeal the decision because Balogun’s suspension changes the team’s attacking plans against Belgium. But FIFA’s regulations do not allow appeals against referee decisions when it’s a straight red. 

That means Balogun must serve the one-match suspension. The United States will now face Belgium without their leading scorer, and things are starting to look difficult for the USA. 

How will Folarin Balogun’s red card impact the USA in the game vs Belgium?

Folarin Balogun looked ready to steal the show again before the red card changed everything for the United States. With this red card, Balogun has landed on an elite list of players who have scored and gotten a red card in the same knockout game. The names on the list before Balogun are Garrincha, Ronaldinho, and Zinedine Zidane. 

However, the silver lining is that even with the red card, USA did show heart, scored a 2nd goal, and made it to the Round of 16. But Pochettino’s frustration with VAR is evident.

“For me, it’s never a red card… Was never the intention to step on the player,” Pochettino said in the postgame interview.  

But he also praised his squad’s response, saying, “The players reacted very well…. I think how they managed this situation was amazing.” 

But the problem now is that USA will go into the game without Balogun, who is their leading goal scorer. And this changes everything for the States. Rumors are that Ricardo Pepi is going to replace the forward, but the problem is that Pepi has played a total of 184 minutes in this World Cup and hasn’t scored a single goal. 

This means that Pochettino will have to build the team in such a way that the focal point is now not just the forward, but the whole attack will have to work together to win the game. 

And a team like Belgium, which just needs moments to win games, will surely put this team to the test, and that is going to be a big challenge that the USA will have to handle.