Former Germany and USMNT star Jermaine Jones has called for consistency after Lionel Messi was not sent off for a similar foul by Folarin Balogun at the FIFA World Cup. He believes that the officials need to know the difference between an intentional foul and an accidental one.
Speaking on ESPN, Jones said that it was never a red card for Balogun as it was an accidental touch. He added that everything will look bad when it is seen in slo-mo and said:
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“No, definitely now. When you look at the game straight away, and I say that for me, not a red card, because he’s not looking even. So if the ball is in front of you and you go through and you pull through and you hit the guy over the ankle most of the time, then it’s a clear red card. But for that, like he’s trying to step and find a way to step back out of that collision with the Bosnian player, and he steps with his right foot on the guy.”
“Yes, if you slow it down, if you go to review and you look at the pictures, everything looks worse. But then, yeah, but the next point is: if you give a red card here, the consistency – why isn’t Messi getting the red card? So, and that’s just something.”
Jones spoke about how Balogun will now miss the key Round of 16 match, and that could cost the USMNT. He said:
“Now we can look at it and go and say, he’s missing this game. No, he’s an important player. He scored three goals for this country, and he would be missed now for the next game. And that’s something that is not good, even on FIFA’s side, because you have to find consistency in the calls you do and not hurt some people or some teams, and some teams not. So, if I was Pochettino, I would go hard on that, and I would be saying something because. Now you’re in the next round, and you’re missing one of your top players.”
Balogun scored the opening goal of the match for the USMNT, before getting sent off in the second half. However, Pochettino’s men kept their calm and Malik Tillman added another to seal a 2-0 win in the FIFA World Cup clash.
What next for Lionel Messi at the FIFA World Cup?
Lionel Messi will be in action against Cape Verde this week in the FIFA World Cup Round of 32. He has been in fine form this summer, scoring six goals in just three matches so far.
Argentina topped their group by beating Jordan, Algeria and Austria, and Lionel Messi managed to score at least once in all games.
Edited by Sripad
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