Folarin Balogun’s second-half red card in the United States’ World Cup win over Bosnia and Herzegovina had Florida fans thinking back to a replay call they know all too well.
The U.S. had to hold on after Balogun was sent off on a controversial decision that came after VAR showed him putting his studs into the ankle of a Bosnia and Herzegovina player. In real time, though, it looked far less dramatic, and the slow-motion replay made the challenge appear worse than it did live.
That’s where the Florida connection comes in. The moment brought back memories of an infamous 2024 call against Texas A&M, when Trikweze Bridges made a tackle on a leaping Aggies receiver that didn’t raise alarm in real time.
Replay then stepped in, stopped the game and ejected Bridges for targeting even though his helmet was squarely on the butt of the Texas A&M player. Bridges was thrown out, and Texas A&M kept its drive alive.
That wasn’t the reason Florida lost, but the resemblance is hard to miss. In both cases, replay seemed to go looking for something punishable that wasn’t obvious at full speed. Slow motion can turn almost anything into an ejection if officials are determined to find one.
The bigger issue, as this incident once again shows, is consistency. Many have already pointed out that Messi made a very similar challenge to Balogun earlier in the World Cup, and the whistle never came.
The same argument applies there: at real speed, it didn’t look like a violent or reckless play. The Bridges tackle fit that same mold, too.
And then comes the part that frustrates people all over again: after the fact, the officials tend to defend the ruling as the correct one. SEC officials did it after the Bridges ejection, and FIFA officials are likely to do the same with Balogun’s red card.
Replay has a place in college football and soccer. The problem is what happens when a normal play gets frozen, slowed down and judged as if the camera itself is the game. That’s where these calls start to feel less like clear enforcement and more like punishment for optics.
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