Nice of him not to play: Balogun appearance mocked online

Nice of him not to play: Balogun appearance mocked online Actually, he should not have been playing at all: After his red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina, US forward Folarin Balogun was suspended for the round-of-16 match against Belgium. But at the initiative of US President Donald Trump, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee decided to revise the ruling to a suspended ban and allow Balogun to play against the Belgians. This decision was met with great disbelief around the world and drew heavy criticism toward both Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Balogun himself is of course not to blame for any of this. Still, during the clash against Belgium, all eyes were naturally on the USA’s top scorer at this World Cup. A bitter blow: Balogun produced by far his weakest performance against the Red Devils. In the first half, he had just ten touches of the ball, the lowest total among all 22 players. He also remained largely anonymous after the break and only managed one dangerous attempt on goal. Unsurprisingly, this modest showing sparked all kinds of mockery online. One X user wrote, for example: "It was nice of Balogan to do the right thing and not play today. Very noble." From the 25-year-old’s point of view, the evening could hardly have gone any worse. Because alongside the ridicule over his performance, he also had to come to terms with his team’s World Cup exit. Against a focused Belgian side, the US boys deservedly lost 1-4. This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.