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USMNT address Folarin Balogun elephant after blowout World Cup loss to Belgium

U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters

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USMNT address Folarin Balogun elephant after blowout World Cup loss to Belgium

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Jul 7, 2026 8:16 AM ET

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Shortly after the United States men's national team crashed out of the FIFA World Cup via a 4-1 loss to Belgium in Monday's round-of-16 matchup, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio and others suggested that the much-discussed red-card situation involving United States forward Folarin Balogun "killed the vibe" for the Americans.

Following the defeat, United States manager Mauricio Pochettino and others addressed the Balogun-sized elephant that hovered over Monday's game.

Folarin Balogun situation "not an excuse" for United States' poor performance vs. Belgium

"It didn't affect our performance," Pochettino said about the Balogun situation, per Sam Borden of ESPN. "It's not an excuse. I think we were not good enough. It wasn't our day. We didn't perform in the way that we're supposed to perform or show our quality. All that was happening around [with the Balogun situation], it was around us, but I think it wasn't a situation that affected us in the group."

Balogun was made available to play against Belgium after he was shown a red card during the United States' 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the tournament's prior round. It was later learned that President Donald Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino to ask for a review of the Balogun suspension related to the red card.

On Monday night, the Americans looked outmatched and overwhelmed throughout a loss many players will want to forget. The lowlight of the evening occurred when United States goalkeeper Matt Freese committed a terrible mistake that gifted Belgium with a third goal after defender Tim Ream was unable to make a clearance.

Belgium finds a third pic.twitter.com/0m1Hu4qzwR
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 7, 2026

"It had no impact," Ream said about the Balogun controversy. "Outside noise. We've done a good job with this group of allowing outside noise to be outside noise. It's got nothing to do with us as players and getting ready for games. It's one of those things that's the world we live in. So, we were fully focused on us as a group and as a team and fully focused on the game and not really worrying about what was being said or debated in the outside world."

Tyler Adams shares harsh truth about loss to Belgium

Somebody running the X account for the Belgium national team did not ignore the outside noise, as that person captioned a post: "Overturn this."

Meanwhile, United States midfielder Tyler Adams noted that he and others representing one of the tournament's host countries on Monday night simply failed to match Belgium's quality.

"Was anyone a major presence on the field today?" Adams said about Balogun having no real impact on the match's outcome before he was subbed off late in the contest. "I think he tried today to be a presence and a nuisance, and at times, he was getting behind the ball and doing what he does. He just didn't have too many opportunities today."

Of course, one can only guess how the Americans would have played had they been motivated by the fact that Balogun was suspended due to what many felt was an undeserved red card. Instead, Monday's defeat may go down as a missed opportunity for a United States side that picked a terrible time to produce a flop.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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