Bruce Arena backs red card on Balogun as safety concerns loom

Former USMNT boss Bruce Arena defended the red card handed to striker Folarin Balogun after his clash with Bosnia’s Tarek Muharemovic, saying the dangerous play warranted a dismissal and a one‑game suspension that will see him miss the United States’ Round of 32 match against Belgium on Monday. The incident occurred in the group stage match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, when Balogun collided with Tarek Muharemovic while contesting a ball. Balogun, who had already netted three goals in the tournament, was initially left on the field as referee Raphael Claus did not issue a card. VAR official Juan Soto later intervened, reviewing the challenge in slow motion and deeming it worthy of a dismissal. Bruce Arena, speaking on Fanduel’s “Coaches’ Corner”, argued that intent is irrelevant when a play endangers an opponent’s ankle. He said, “If the referee issued a yellow card, I could see that, but with VAR calling the referee over and he sees that foul in slow motion, I think it’s conceivable that he’s going to issue a red card.” Arena concluded that the red card was justified, hoping the suspension would be limited to one game.

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The red card forces Balogun to serve a one‑game suspension, ruling him out of the United States’ Round of 32 clash with Belgium on Monday. No appeal mechanism exists for the decision, cementing his absence. United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino strongly disagreed, calling the dismissal “a normal action in football that happened by accident” and insisting there was no intent. Pochettino maintained that, in his view, the incident should never have been classified as a red card. Arena’s tenure as USMNT head coach spanned ten years across two periods, from 1998 to 2006 and again from 2016 to 2017. His first spell included the 2002 World Cup quarter‑finals and a winless 2006 tournament, while the second ended with the team failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, the only miss since 1990.