I think the Balogun Issue is blown out of proportion

Yes, I know we are already tired about the discourse, but I just wanted to add my two cents to the situation.

Generally speaking, reaction to the Balogun red card has been interesting to say the least. Not because people disagreed with the original decision, but with how quickly the narrative has shifted once something was done about it.

After the original card, many pundits, analysts, and fans were saying that it shouldn't have been a red card, at worst it should have been a yellow.

However after action was changed to correct what was already seen as a questionable choice, the discourse becomes "this is corruption" and "the US is back at it again". There is no denying that FIFA is corrupt, but if people believed that it shouldn't have been a red in the first place then why is it suddenly a bigger issue?

What's annoying is the selective outrage. We've constantly seen worse calls such as when people were playing WWE during the France v Paraguay match. This has been the most recent example, but the level of anger being displayed hasn't been comparable.

If you are a person who believes that FIFA has always been giving questionable calls and it's "just the game", then why is it hard to believe?

The biggest Irony is the role of Trump in this. Many of these same people will full heartedly say that Trump always lies and takes credit for stuff he hasn't done, but these same people will believe Trump at his word suddenly? He's either a reliable source of info or not, you can't pick and choose what he says when it's good for your views.

The general discourse around this feels less like genuine concern about the fairness of the game, and more like outrage being amplified because it fits a specific narrative. The reaction to this seems astroturfed because the reaction we've been seeing is not equal to what the issue actually was.

I think the main thing to realize is that people who were already rooting against us, wouldn't have changed their minds anyway and would have found something else to have a problem with.

I made some changes so hopefully my post doesn't the removed for some reason again. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk, go Team USA.