{"id":3507,"date":"2026-07-02T15:38:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T15:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3507"},"modified":"2026-07-02T15:38:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T15:38:36","slug":"lionel-messi-had-similar-play-as-usmnt-star-folarin-balogun-but-didnt-earn-red-card-as-controversy-brews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3507","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi had similar play as USMNT star Folarin Balogun \u2014 but didn’t earn red card as controversy brews"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Lionel Messi got a friendly whistle. Folarin Balogun did not and paid a massive price.<\/p>\n

Read more Shocking video shows Army veteran being fatally shot in fight over Walmart parking spot<\/a><\/p>\n

The USMNT star forward received a red card Wednesday, which has been described as \u201cinsane\u201d and \u201cWhy FIFA sucks\u201d by fans \u2014 and those same people won\u2019t want to see that Messi didn\u2019t even get a card for an extremely similar play earlier in the tournament.<\/p>\n

Messi previously caught Algerian captain Aissa Mandi studs-up while on defense, trying to tackle the ball away from behind during the group stage of the tourney.<\/p>\n

The tackle saw Messi step on the back of Mandi\u2019s calf, forcing the center down in a heap of pain.<\/p>\n

Messi did not receive a yellow or red card as Balogun did when he jockeyed for position in a free-ball scenario with Bosnia-Herzegovina center back Tarik Muharemovic in Wednesday\u2019s 2-0 win.<\/p>\n

One piece of this puzzle is that Muharemovic laid on the ground after the collision, forcing the referees to controversially use their VAR (Video Assistant Referee) technology to review the play in slow motion.<\/p>\n

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When Mandi was on the ground, he was clearly in pain but did not milk the situation, and his Algerian teammates did not surround the referees to force a review.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Messi got some preferential treatment, something Balogun has not yet earned, but it is a debilitating break for this USA squad.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 100 percent a red card for Lionel Messi,\u201d ESPN FC pundit Ale Moreno, a former MLS star, said on June 16. \u201cShould have been. It plays along this narrative that great players get preferential treatment. When he was about to score a hat trick and the goalkeeper, [Luca] Zidane, actually made a save, they showed [FIFA president] Gianni Infantino smiling. He was like, \u2018Oh, man, that was close.\u2019 It does play into that narrative of, \u2018Oh, yeah, this guy\u2019s getting a different sort of treatment\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Messi ultimately tallied a hat trick in the game as Argentina won 3-0.<\/p>\n

Balogun wasn\u2019t as lucky as Messi in the Round of 32 and is slated to miss the USMNT\u2019s Round of 16 match against Belgium on Monday.<\/p>\n

Read more Mauricio Pochettino fumes over Folarin Balogun VAR controversy at World Cup: \u2018Never a red card\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lionel Messi was given plenty of grace from referees on a play during the World Cup similar to the one that earned USMNT striker Folarin Balogun a red card.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer","category-world-cup-2026"],"yoast_head":"\nLionel Messi had similar play as USMNT star Folarin Balogun \u2014 but didn't earn red card as controversy brews - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3507\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lionel Messi had similar play as USMNT star Folarin Balogun \u2014 but didn't earn red card as controversy brews - 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