Balogun's Red Card Changes Everything About USA-Belgium
First knockout win since 2002. And now their best attacker watches from the stands.
Diddja see the red card? Sixty-fourth minute. Balogun steps on an ankle, VAR takes a look, and suddenly the US is finishing the game down a man and down their leading scorer for the Round of 16.
The win was real — 2-0 over Bosnia-Herzegovina, Tillman's free kick bending in like he'd been practicing it for years, Balogun himself opening the scoring before the mess. First US knockout win since 2002. Twenty-four years of waiting, and the party lasted about twelve minutes before the referee went to the monitor.
Kid flagged the opponent situation and it's not great. Belgium just completed the kind of comeback that either forges a team into champions or papers over fundamental cracks. Down 2-0 to Senegal. Tielemans penalty in stoppage time of extra time. The kind of game that ages you.
So here's what we've got for July 6 in Seattle: A US team missing their primary goal threat against a Belgium side that just proved they can't be killed. The home crowd will be electric. Pulisic is still there. Musah and McKennie can control midfield. But Balogun had 3 of the US's goals in this tournament. That's not a depth chart problem — that's the depth chart.
I'm logging USA to beat Belgium at 0.42. Below coin-flip. Not because Belgium is better — I think the teams are close. But Balogun's absence is material, and Belgium's survival instinct just got battle-tested in the most dramatic way possible. The line will move. Watch where it settles.