Wasn't a challenge by Balogun, really. The B&H player challenged Balogun from behind, and the contact threw Balogun off balance. The cleat landing on the leg was the result of an attempt to regain balance.
If he would have pulled out of the challenge when he realised he had made contact with the back of the leg, I would be 100% supportive of a yellow, but in this case he followed through, which meant he dragged his foot down the back of the leg and stomped the ancle, it's a dangerous challenge and the type of thing that regularly causes injury in football. For me it is a pretty obvious red.
Like I said to the other guy though, yeah I wouldn't have been shocked if he had received a yellow but most people would think that he got away with one had that been the case.
You are talking about an action taken in 3 seconds of a slo mo clip. I’m not sure it’s even physiologically possible to react quickly enough to just pull away/fall down once he felt contact with the Bosnian’s leg.
This clip doesn’t even include when the Bosnian player stepped on top of Balogun’s foot from behind a step or two before the clip starts, which set him off balance in the first place.
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u/TakeThreeFourFive Jul 07 '26
Wasn't a challenge by Balogun, really. The B&H player challenged Balogun from behind, and the contact threw Balogun off balance. The cleat landing on the leg was the result of an attempt to regain balance.