John Harkes, a member of the 1994 USMNT World Cup squad, was at Levi's Stadium on Wednesday night and had the same reaction as just about everybody when Folarin Balogun had to leave the game.
"We kept going, 'Wait a minute, that's not a red card,'" Harkes said of his reaction in an interview with Fox News Digital.
"You know, we're in the stadium, and right away I think I was standing there next to my daughter-in-law and our grandson, and then my son and my wife. Both my son and my wife, Cindy and Ian, turned and said, 'That's not a red card.' And I'm like, 'Oh my God,'" he said. "I don't think it was a red card at all, to be honest with you."
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With Balogun's absence, the USMNT had to play with 10 men for the rest of the game. However, a red card results in an automatic suspension for the next game, meaning that one official can alter multiple games with just one decision, even if it is, as Harkes put it, a "50/50" play.
Harkes was "a victim" of something similar in 1994, the last time the United States hosted the World Cup prior to this year. He earned yellow cards in the first and third games, prompting a suspension for the United States' July 4 game against Brazil.
"It crushed me. I kept thinking to myself, this is the best in the world coming together, and you're going to make a player sit out the next game because of yellow card accumulation?" Harkes said.
FIFA RULES LEAVE TEAM USA NO RECOURSE AFTER FOLARIN BALOGUN'S CONTROVERSIAL RED CARD
Soccer certainly is not baseball, where the rules are ever-changing. But if there was one, Harkes would like to see red cards from one game not affect any others.
"That's way above my pay grade, but at the same time, so many people discuss it on a consistent basis. So let's really take a look at this and see: Does it make sense? I don't think it does. Not in a tournament format. I don't think so," he said.
Unfortunately for the U.S., there is nothing anyone can do. Article 9.6 of the 2026 World Cup regulations reads, "No protests may be made about the referee’s decisions regarding facts connected with play. Such decisions are final and not subject to appeal, unless otherwise stipulated in the FIFA Disciplinary Code."
"If a player or team official is sent off as a result of a direct or indirect red card (second caution), they will automatically be suspended from their team’s subsequent match," Article 10.5 states.
Despite it not looking like Balogun had any ill intent, the United States will have no choice but to find a replacement for someone who has probably been its best player in what is now perhaps the most important game in U.S. soccer history on Monday night.
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