Posted on 07/06/2026 10:23:07 AM PDT by TheRef
The VAR ref that ordered the still shot review of Balogun making contact with the opposition's ankle became a referee in Venezuela in the early 2000s.
As The Athletic (NY Times) documented, Chavez had profound, politically driven influence over the Venezuelan Football Federation. The VAR referee that flagged Balogun for a still shot review, a violation of VAR protocol that resulted in a red card, became a ref in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. His name is Juan Ernesto Soto Arévalo.
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Chavez’ revenge, not Maduro’s.
My goodness, this guy must be a founding member of the tinfoil hat brigade.
Maduro is the guy who got perp-walked out of his own house by the US, not Chavez. Maduro is Chavez’s guy. Same corrupt regime.
A cleats up takeout red card involves the players head and eyes forward knowing their target; Flo had neither it was just a very bad tangle. Flo even apologize to the player and ref, which probably went far on the appeal.
I think the problem was he didn’t look at the replay, he looked at a still shot sent down by the VAR ref, who violated VAR protocol.
Exactly, Maduro is just Chavez’ Medvedev. Maduro just a place holder.
Update: FIFA has turned down Belgium’s appeal.
Bologun will play.
BWHAHAHA!!
Balogun
>Flo even apologize to the player and ref, which probably went far on the appeal.
The issue is Flo had position on the ball and it was a 50/50 tangle where the Bosnian forced through from behind. There was no way Flo could target or intentionally attack the opponent.
It looked horrible but shouldn’t have even been a foul.
I did not realize VAR protocol was violated. So its not supposed to be a still shot?
Hadn’t heard that, but it’s great news!
No, no slow mos, no still shots.
VAR ref violated the rules to get Balogun off the field.
Correct, they were not supposed to use a still shot in that instance. It made it look much worse. Full speed video shows Balogun buckles his knee when he realized he was on the ankle, showing clear desire not to injure. Full speed shows this. It was so badly refereed. ESPN has good piece on this. https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49244156/world-cup-var-review-misapplied-protocols-leave-usmnt-folarin-balogun-wrongly-red-carded-world-cup-vs-bosnia-herzegovina
Yeah, great news. And it was an independent committee of 18 people, not the FIFA prez who did all this.
Beat The Phlegms!
Agreed. The U.S. player was playing the ball. From the replay, it looked like the other player came in low and from the right rear, i.e. right in his blind spot. He got a foot on the ball — it was a clean play there — but Flo never saw him coming and then they got their legs crossed.
Just one still photograph that shows the Black American stepping on the shoe of the injured player.
Absolutely NO WAY to determine if it was deliberate, or not.
The VAR protocol is quite specific. The replay is to be viewed at register speed. It was not thus the red card is not valid. End of f’n story. Get over Belgium.
Exactly. So frustrating that so many just gloss over this fact.
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