Morning.
I suspect there’ll be a few tired readers this morning who still have to go about their Monday duties despite staying up late to watch England last night. I was not one of those, choosing to get some sleep and catch up on things when I woke up, and the World Cup continues for Thomas Tuchel’s side and the Arsenal lads involved after a 3-2 win at the Azteca.
Bukayo Saka started the game and provided an assist for Jude Bellingham to open the scoring, and the Real Madrid man put England 2-0 up with another goal straight from the restart. There’s something really fun about goals like that, I remember when Cesc scored one in the North London derby when we were still celebrating the opener from Robin van Persie (I think). Mexico got one back just before the break, but England went further ahead with a penalty on the hour mark, a few minutes after going down to 10 men when Jarrel Quansah got a straight red card for a challenge which caught the opponent high on the shin.
The contact isn’t massive, but I don’t think he can really complain. However, the good news for him is that – as we’ve come to understand – red cards don’t mean anything these days, and I’m sure someone at 10 Downing Street will be lobbying for the suspension to overturned. A penalty for Mexico made it 3-2 with 20 minutes to go, and it looks like England hung on for the win by their fingernails. After that goal, Mexico had 84% possession, with 10 shots, so it was backs to the wall stuff I guess. Still, England hung on for a big win, and they now face Norway in the quarter-finals.
The Norway v Brazil game was on at a more respectable hour and I watched this one. First, fair play to the Norwegians for what was a fantastic result, but I was quite taken aback at just how poor Brazil were overall. There was zero craft or invention to their play, and while it’s not like I thought they should dominate, they had just 33% possession in this game, and any danger they created came on the counter. It’s just not very Brazil, really.
As I said though, Norway were excellent. I thought Martin Odegaard had a good game in midfield, helping to dictate the tempo of the game really well, and when you have someone like Erling Haaland up front, there’s always danger. His first goal saw him get away from Gabriel to head home, and the second was just such a good finish. He made it look ridiculously easy when it wasn’t, and despite a late consolation from a very generous penalty (in my opinion), Brazil were deservedly eliminated. It means some holidays and rest for the two Gabriels, while Odegaard – like the England contingent – stays involved. I actually think after an injury hit season, a good World Cup could be useful for the captain, so let’s see how it goes in the next game when so many Arsenal lads are likely to feature.
Now though, things start to get grotty …
Folarin Balogun suspension overturned
Yesterday evening news emerged that despite being sent off in the USA’s 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, former Gunner Folarin Balogun would not then face suspension for their next game against Belgium. FIFA declined to provide a great deal of information, citing a statute in the rule book which some suggest has been erroneously applied anyway.
It then emerged that the decision had been taken after White House pressure, with the US President even posting about it on his poxy social network. The Athletic has a free article about how it all went down, and let’s be absolutely clear here: this is a scandalous decision which demonstrates not just how corrupt Gianni Infantino and FIFA are, but what a pathetic little weasel of a man he is.
My opinion on the Balogun incident, as I wrote in the blog the day after, is that it was a red card. Unfortunate, yes. Deliberate, no. But still red. You might agree or you might disagree, but at this point what we think about the decision is irrelevant. Instead, we’ve seen the game’s governing body kowtow to political pressure, and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say this undermines the sporting integrity of the entire tournament.
Belgium are rightly furious, and released a statement saying: In order to safeguard the legitimate rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport, both at this FIFA World Cup and at future editions of the tournament, the RBFA is investigating all potential options.
Belgium’s coach, Rudi Garcia said:
I didn’t know that at the World Cup, the 5th of July is actually the first of April, it’s April Fools.
Other coaches have had their say. Norway’s Stale Solbakken:
I think that’s a big mistake by FIFA. It’s not a great conclusion. He has got a red card, VAR concluded it was a red card, and he was sent off, so that means he is suspended for one game. It’s a bad, bad, bad, bad decision for the World Cup.
Thomas Tuchel:
Who overturns this decision and when and on what grounds? And how far does this go now? Our yellow card after the first minute against Declan Rice…I think it is not a yellow card. Do we get this back? Does France get the yellow card back for Olise which was not a yellow card?
“Where does this end?”
Even if you think the Balogun red card was an injustice, and I understand if people do, if you care at all about the sport or the game, you have to stand in opposition to this decision from FIFA. That the US government can apply that level of influence to bend the rules for their own team is simply wrong. There is no middle ground here. If you justify it on partisan grounds, you’re complicit to this corruption. And there is no other word for it. If there’s one rule for one team, and different ones for everyone else, then what are we even doing?
I also think there’s something deeply ironic, for want of a better term, about this particular administration rowing in behind Flo Balogun (who I feel a bit sorry for to be honest), given he is representing the US because his pregnant mother was not allowed fly back from a holiday, and instead of being born in London he was born in New York. They have been vocal on their desire to end birthright citizenship, and yet here they are going to bat for a man whose dual citizenship comes via that very reason.
The bottom line is that even if the dismissal was contentious, Balogun should be suspended for the next game. Unfortunate and unlucky red cards happen all the time in football, lord knows we’ve had a few at Arsenal down the years, but the suspensions stand. This is a real stain on this World Cup, and it once again highlights what a feeble, wretched little man Gianni Infantino is. Someone who has the highest position in an organisation that purports to protect and love football, but who is too afraid, or too supplicant, to a politician to have the conviction to even hold up one of the most basic rules of the game. It would be piteous, if you had any pity to give to this vile cretin.
He should be out on his ear. Not just for this. I think he should have been gone long ago, his brazen corruption and private jet lifestyle via the FIFA teat ought to have done for him before now, but this should be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. I hope Belgium fight this with vigour, and that other coaches and associations speak out vociferously about this decision. Today it’s a ‘problem’ for Belgium, but it might be one for England or Norway or anyone else left in this tournament on a different one. I also think it’s entirely wrong of Mauricio Pochettino to hold this up as justice being done and praising FIFA. He’s on the wrong side of this one, even if I understand why he’d be happy to have his star striker available.
Whatever else happens in this tournament, and even if FIFA go back on their decision, this will be the story that should define this World Cup because it shows us everything that’s wrong with how football is run, and how the world operates these days. Grim.
Right, I’ll leave it there for this morning. We will have an Arsecast Extra for you a bit later on, James is still on Chicago time so we’ll be recording in the morning for him, which means the pod will be out late afternoon in this part of the world. We’ll put out the call for questions on BlueSky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com in little while, so when that happens fire away using the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server.
For now, have a good one.
