World Cup: The U.S. should sit Flo Balogun — even if FIFA says he can play

Here’s a hot take: The U.S. should play Monday night’s game against Belgium without Flo Balogun even if he’s allowed to suit up.

Look, the U.S. didn’t ask to be in this situation. This team didn’t ask FIFA to make a questionable call to send Balogun off, didn’t ask for him to be suspended for a game. But, apparently, we did ask for FIFA to review the call and right the wrong if there was one. And, Sunday, FIFA acknowledged that there was a wrong and they’ve righted it — ruling that Balogun can play.

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And yet, this just doesn’t feel right.

Do I want Balogun to play?

100%.

But do I want the US to win with a cloud over its head, even if said cloud is a screw up of FIFA’s own making?

No way.

This tournament has been such a feel-good moment for the United States, finally stepping up to the world in the game the world cares about the most. We’ve seen Christian Pulisic deliver on the promise foisted on him a decade ago, setting up his mates like a chess master. We’ve come to know Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie and Malik Tillman and Alex Freeman and Chris Richards. And we’ve watched Balogun become a household name, ripping goals and handling this red card situation like a man.

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“It’s something that’s happened, so we have to move forward, and I have to accept it,” Balogun, himself, said last week.

It’s still to be determined if this USMNT squad has fully answered the decades-long questions about why the U.S. hasn’t been able to hang with the best of the best, let alone countries smaller than Massachusetts. But … for the first time in a long time it seems we’ve at least earned the respect of the quote “soccer nations” and their fans who are here having the time of their lives.

But if Balogun plays against Belgium, we know how this is going to shake out: Win or lose, the rest of the world will scream that the U.S. got special treatment. That FIFA caved to the might of the American machine. That the U.S. waged a political war off the field because without it we couldn’t win on the field.

This team — this run they are on — doesn’t deserve that. And if they are as good as we think they are, they can overcome playing without their best striker.

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So while we can argue that the Balogun red card was a B.S. call, and that overturning the one-game suspension was the right thing to do, outside of Lubbock, Texas, winning in the courts isn’t our style. Then, Monday night, put our next best 11 up against Belgium’s best 11 and tell them to bring it on, because that’s what we do here in America. We take our lumps, fair or not, and push on.