Folarin Balogun makes big admission about how red-card controversy impacted USMNT

Almost immediately after the United States men's national team crashed out of the FIFA World Cup via a 4-1 loss to Belgium in a round-of-16 matchup, some suggested that the United States were negatively impacted by the much-discussed red-card situation involving forward Folarin Balogun.

Multiple players and United States manager Mauricio Pochettino poured cold water over such theories. However, it sounds like the Americans may have been better off had Balogun served a suspension for the Belgium match.

Folarin Balogun knew red-card decision would "cause a lot of controversy" 

"My initial reaction was I was happy to be back in the team, but when I kind of started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy, and I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves, because it's something that is so unique," Balogun told "CBS Mornings" on Tuesday about FIFA lifting his red card suspension for the Belgium game, per ESPN and Kelsie Hoffman of CBS News. "But the closer we got to the game, I tried to just focus as best as I could, but it was difficult. A lot of outside noise, and that's hard to avoid."

Balogun was shown a red card during the United States' 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup round-of-32 clash after his right foot unintentionally landed on the leg of Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic, which caused Muharemovic's ankle to turn. It's now known that President Donald Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino to ask for a review of the suspension related to that red card. 

Balogun being permitted to play against Belgium infuriated members of the opposing team and many others within the world football community. As noted by The Associated Press (h/t ESPN), Belgian midfielder Nicolas Raskin said after his team's win over the United States that "there's always a justice somewhere in life" and that the Balogun situation gave Belgium "a little bit of [motivation] that we needed to win the game."

Folarin Balogun reveals feelings about the red card

Additionally, Balogun insisted on Tuesday that he thinks the red card was the wrong decision.

"I was in shock," Balogun said about being sent off. "It wasn't even a tackle. I was totally in shock. I think you could see my reaction, but I just had to accept the decision and just try to be there for my team. When something's not intentional, it should never be a red card, so it was just an unfortunate situation, and I think it put a lot more pressure on us than we needed."

Belgium later suffered a 2-1 loss to Spain in the quarterfinals of the World Cup.