This has a lot of a good points.
The most interesting part of the red card saga isn't the ruling. It's how differently Americans and Europeans process the idea that they might have been wronged.
Europeans are fundamentally different from Americans in one particular way: they expect life to be aggravating and at times unfair. It's just a fact of moving through the world. I joke that in Europe, the customer is always wrong. You didn't read the fine print. The only pharmacy in town is closed every other Tuesday for three hours, and even if the times weren't posted, that's still your problem. Too bad if you want the bill, because the waiter's on his union-mandated half-hour smoke break, and you're just going to have to wait.
To quote the great Mark Knopfler: sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug. There's something freeing in that. Things are less in your control, so there's less angst in managing your expectations.
In America, things couldn't be more different. We simply can't accept a wrong left unrighted.
The flight attendant sneezed handing you a drink on your one-hour flight? 15,000 frequent flyer miles. Didn't like your appetizer? A replacement is on the way, and the whole course comes off the bill. There's a reason our interstates are lined with trial lawyer billboards.
Europeans have turned complaining into a continental pastime with no expectation that the universe owes them a remedy for their grief. You gripe about the train being late, your friends nod solemnly and everyone goes back to their apro. In America, we launch a full-blown investigation of the train system, sue the government (and its contractors) that allowed for the tardiness and hold a Congressional hearing on the state of national infrastructure.
So to an objective observer, the red card shouldn't have happened, and VAR was a travesty. To Americans, our star player shouldn't be unfairly banned from a match we couldn't afford to lose for a card he so obviously didn't deserve.
Who cares that FIFA used a little-used reversal to fix it. Who cares that other people are mad about it. We. Were. Wronged. It was unjust. It must be corrected. We would accept nothing less.
Europeans waxing poetic about the sanctity of the game are, of course, talking about a governing body whose last tournament host was decided via confirmed cash bribes one that imposed dress codes on women, shrugged off widespread allegations of modern slavery and reconfigured the entire tournament calendar to suit the host country. Which is exactly the point. If you've made peace with all of that, at least enough to watch the tournament four years later, a probationary suspension isn't actually a scandal.
Maybe that's the real divide. Over millennia, Europeans have made peace with being the bug. Americans have never once considered it, and apparently, we're not about to start now.
And I don't agree with Robert Griffin about manythings, but this is interesting too.
[url]
FIFA got it right by suspending Folarin Balogun's Red Card under Article 27.
Belgium's protesting the decision isn't about the integrity of the game. It's about getting an advantage over the USA.
If it was about the integrity of the game, they would be championing Balogun having his Red card suspended because it was improper use of the VAR system and not a Red card offense.
Where were the appeals when Cristiano Ronaldo got his 3 game red card ban suspended and reduced to a 1 game ban on a friendly so he could play this entire World Cup?
DR Congo and Uzbekistan didn't protest Cristiano Ronaldo eligibility to play.
They played Portugal at full strength.
If Belgium doesn't want to play now because FIFA made the right call and the USA has Folarin Balogun back in the lineup, then THAT'S WEAK.
They don't deserve to win.
Put the ball down and play.
Don't pick up your ball and go home.
The most interesting part of the red card saga isn't the ruling. It's how differently Americans and Europeans process the idea that they might have been wronged.
— Ellen Carmichael (@ellencarmichael) July 6, 2026
Europeans are fundamentally different from Americans in one particular way: they expect life to be aggravating and at… pic.twitter.com/TFYcsNZFbB
The most interesting part of the red card saga isn't the ruling. It's how differently Americans and Europeans process the idea that they might have been wronged.
Europeans are fundamentally different from Americans in one particular way: they expect life to be aggravating and at times unfair. It's just a fact of moving through the world. I joke that in Europe, the customer is always wrong. You didn't read the fine print. The only pharmacy in town is closed every other Tuesday for three hours, and even if the times weren't posted, that's still your problem. Too bad if you want the bill, because the waiter's on his union-mandated half-hour smoke break, and you're just going to have to wait.
To quote the great Mark Knopfler: sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug. There's something freeing in that. Things are less in your control, so there's less angst in managing your expectations.
In America, things couldn't be more different. We simply can't accept a wrong left unrighted.
The flight attendant sneezed handing you a drink on your one-hour flight? 15,000 frequent flyer miles. Didn't like your appetizer? A replacement is on the way, and the whole course comes off the bill. There's a reason our interstates are lined with trial lawyer billboards.
Europeans have turned complaining into a continental pastime with no expectation that the universe owes them a remedy for their grief. You gripe about the train being late, your friends nod solemnly and everyone goes back to their apro. In America, we launch a full-blown investigation of the train system, sue the government (and its contractors) that allowed for the tardiness and hold a Congressional hearing on the state of national infrastructure.
So to an objective observer, the red card shouldn't have happened, and VAR was a travesty. To Americans, our star player shouldn't be unfairly banned from a match we couldn't afford to lose for a card he so obviously didn't deserve.
Who cares that FIFA used a little-used reversal to fix it. Who cares that other people are mad about it. We. Were. Wronged. It was unjust. It must be corrected. We would accept nothing less.
Europeans waxing poetic about the sanctity of the game are, of course, talking about a governing body whose last tournament host was decided via confirmed cash bribes one that imposed dress codes on women, shrugged off widespread allegations of modern slavery and reconfigured the entire tournament calendar to suit the host country. Which is exactly the point. If you've made peace with all of that, at least enough to watch the tournament four years later, a probationary suspension isn't actually a scandal.
Maybe that's the real divide. Over millennia, Europeans have made peace with being the bug. Americans have never once considered it, and apparently, we're not about to start now.
And I don't agree with Robert Griffin about manythings, but this is interesting too.
[url]
[/url]FIFA got it right by suspending Folarin Balogun’s Red Card under Article 27.
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) July 6, 2026
Belgium’s protesting the decision isn’t about the integrity of the game. It’s about getting an advantage over the USA.
If it was about the integrity of the game, they would be championing Balogun… pic.twitter.com/hnyQMYlBbN
FIFA got it right by suspending Folarin Balogun's Red Card under Article 27.
Belgium's protesting the decision isn't about the integrity of the game. It's about getting an advantage over the USA.
If it was about the integrity of the game, they would be championing Balogun having his Red card suspended because it was improper use of the VAR system and not a Red card offense.
Where were the appeals when Cristiano Ronaldo got his 3 game red card ban suspended and reduced to a 1 game ban on a friendly so he could play this entire World Cup?
DR Congo and Uzbekistan didn't protest Cristiano Ronaldo eligibility to play.
They played Portugal at full strength.
If Belgium doesn't want to play now because FIFA made the right call and the USA has Folarin Balogun back in the lineup, then THAT'S WEAK.
They don't deserve to win.
Put the ball down and play.
Don't pick up your ball and go home.
If you don't have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me.
