Posted on 07/05/2026 6:34:23 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
After the Royal Belgian Football Association released a 283-word statement saying it was “astonished” at Folarin Balogun’s reinstatement, manager Rudi Garcia compared it to April Fools’ Day at his pre-match press conference.
“I didn’t know that July 5 was equal to April 1 at FIFA,” Garcia said in French, through an interpreter.
“We’re not defending the national team or federation,” Garcia continued. “We’re defending in football. … It’s the first time in World Cup history that such a decision is taken. I am a head coach, I will focus on my team, on tomorrow’s game. Regardless of the 11 starting players from the U.S., I will focus on my team.”
Garcia and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois attempted in vain to keep questions focused on the match itself, but all anyone wanted to talk about was Balogun.
The RBFA statement cited a series of FIFA bylaws, and said the federation “is investigating all potential options.”
While it’s unclear exactly what that might entail, Garcia was asked whether an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was a possibility, even if it were to take place after Monday’s game.
“Do not waste your time talking about this,” Garcia said. “I am the head coach of the Belgian national team. He [Courtois] is the player. If you have any sporting questions, football questions, we’ll happily answer them.”
Courtois, the veteran goalkeeper who started against the USMNT in the Round of 16 at the 2014 World Cup — one of three Belgian players this year who did so, along with Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku — insisted that Balogun’s reentry into the lineup would change nothing.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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April was 3 months ago Rudi. Now go have a Belgian waffle, and stop your crying.
And now Erling Haaland, who was born in England, gets to play against England.
Thanks for the explanation. Ref paid off to get him out of circulation.
That’s certainly one way of looking at it (and how I looked at it at the game time). The odds of winning a game playing a man down for that length of time is very low. I was ready to take our lumps, but it seems that FIFA doesn’t want to lose the USA for right now. I just wish these refs were on the up and up. They’re like mafia men in my mind. Just like NFL and NCAA refs.
Thank you. I looked at some videos of it and discussions. Someone posted a similar thing with Messi scraping the other player but was looking in that direction. No foul. I get that there are lots of things that are never called, or depend on the refs, the game, etc. But it seems like the slow-mo review should be taken with a grain of salt.
I like to watch High School hockey. Early on in the season the refs will call lots of fouls - trying to set the tone for the kids for the season. Come play-offs they are more apt to let them play.
“The Manneken Pis?”
Beer consumption in Belgium is the highest per capital in the world.
I’ve been going to Belgium frequently in the past 30 years, attending the Brussels Beer Festival at least six times. That’s 3 days of over 300 different Belgian beers. They shut down the entire Grand Place in central Brussels for the festival.
For a break, we walked over to visit Joe, the owner of Delerium Cafe’, pink elephants and all.
In those 30 years, the Muslim population has skyrocketed. So has the crime. It’s not the same anymore.
There is a Jeanneke Pis; Dutch for ‘Little Pissing Joan’, right across the street from Delerium Cafe’ next to Joe’s absinthe bar, Floris Cafe’, famous for having over 600 different absinthe brands.
I used to brew a lot of beer and got to party(taste test) with the Belgian brewmasters, including those from the Trappist monestary breweries.
For me, Brussels is like a good marriage that turned bad over the years. Lots of good memories of good times and good friends, but like a spouse that changes and goes bitter, it’s not the same anymore.
“Apart from the Singing Nun, name a famous Belgian.”
She left the Catholic Order, became a lesbian, and ended up committing suicide.
“Balogun is a birthright “citizen”. he never should have been on the team.”
He was born into a Nigerian family from the UK. His 7 months pregnant mama was visiting in the US. Wikipedia has her claim and lie (my opinion) that when she tried to fly back to UK. That she was not allowed to board. Was too preggers. So Balogun was born here. He might have three citizenships and passports. UK USA Nigeria
Hercule Poirot
It was so obviously an accident, and no malice was involved at all by either player.
The truth be told, they shouldn’t have expanded the field to 48 teams.
Some teams were playing “Kick-Ball” instead of Soccer!
That’s how bad they were!
And some of the refereeing was so egregious and incompetent that FIFA had to restore Balogun to save their credibility!
No, it’s because you’re cheating. https://t.co/pGTmlEGDyK— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) July 6, 2026
The ref cheated. He didn’t know the USA would still win, but he made it very difficult for us to win that game with his decision.
I bet England is PO’ed that they didn’t pick up Balogun themselves.
I’m not a Portnoy fan, but he’s right about one thing. UEFA is crying because Americans are getting better at *their* sport.
🚨OFFICIAL: Belgium have submitted their appeal to FIFA before the deadline for FIFA’s decision to overturn Folarin Balogun's suspension.
Balogun could still miss the USA's World Cup game vs Belgium tonight
94% chance he plays, per Polymarket— Polymarket Sports (@PolymarketSport) July 6, 2026
This piece explains what really happened with the red card.
https://athlonsports.com/soccer/ex-referee-baloguns-red-card-decision-mistake-var-protocols
Other players have done much worse than Balogun did, and weren’t even called for fouls.
Yes I have bias...but he contacted the ball first and the leg only raised because the ball went under his leg - imo there was no intent to raise the studs high.
I think the use of VAR is going to change after this WC. VAR wasn’t intended to review a motion down to a single (worst looking) frame to determine red cards.
Like the USA red card, two players jump up for a ball, their feet have to come down, neither looking at their feet, the USA players foot falling on the ankle of the other player. Boiling it down to a single frame, resulting in a red card, removing all the context of the motion, and play in question, is not the intended use of VAR (which was offsides, where a single frame can be determinant).
Otherwise, this will just devolve to using VAR for every foul - heck, even those not called in real time. Each team will complain about the severity of calls being inconsistent.
Fabrique nationale d’armes de guerre herstal belgique is a friend of mine.😎
I agree, VAR should only validate calls on the field. A red card/penalty etc. that isn’t called on the field, should not be added after a VAR review.
I think that’s part of the reason the referees suck so much. They know VAR will cover up their mistakes, and are too lazy to make calls on the field.
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