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After months of reflection on the U.S. men's national team's 2026 World Cup campaign, head coach Mauricio Pochettino has expressed just one regret: not intervening enough during the Folarin Balogun red card controversy.
The prolific forward, who was left out of the USMNT's fall international camp, found himself at the heart of a scandal during the knockout rounds. He received a red card for a foul against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32, before FIFA took the unprecedented step of suspending his one-match ban, allowing him to feature in the eventual 4–1 round of 16 defeat to Belgium.
It later emerged that the ruling, handed down just 24 hours before the Belgium clash, followed a phone call from U.S. President Donald Trump to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, drawing Balogun, the USMNT, and FIFA into a fierce political firestorm.
Speaking with Andrés Cantor of Futbol de Primera at U.S. Soccer's training complex in Fayetteville, Ga., Pochettino acknowledged that he wished he had managed the situation differently and pushed for a more active role in the discussions that unfolded.
"Perhaps I regret not having been more involved in the situation that later generated all of the negativity afterwards," Pochettino said in Spanish. "Maybe I regret not being more involved in that decision-making process. I wasn't involved in that decision to overturn the red card. As a football person, I understand everything…Beyond whether we were right or not [about the call on the field], I think nobody understood how it happened."
While Balogun has previously acknowledged his discomfort with how events unfolded, Pochettino had not yet shared his own viewpoint publicly.
"As a football person, where many times we have that emotional intelligence, [we know] that energy can change things," Pochettino added. "I think that energy changed the minute that happened. And by then, the game is played under different parameters, and that match was never a match where I believe the tactics, strategy or selection of players would have changed the course of what happened during the game."
Pochettino's squad—Balogun included, starting from the first whistle—were comprehensively outplayed by Belgium, looking stunned from the very beginning of the match.
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The Balogun Scandal Grew Too Big
Pochettino also voiced frustrations over how the ruling came about, pointing to a lack of proper structure and hinting that several outside parties appeared to have played some role, most prominently Trump and Infantino. Other federations and sports officials were quick to weigh in on the red card reversal.
"That's something we've talked about internally," Pochettino said. "I think that these types of things have to be managed under a much more limited structure, a structure where decisions have to be made by very few people, where very few people manage these types of things. [Those decisions] should be strictly sporting and common sense, beyond whether a rule or a committee can say one thing or another."
Since the controversy and World Cup exit, things haven't gone smoothly for Balogun. A proposed move to Premier League side Everton collapsed, sending transfer Deadline Day into a multi-club frenzy. Opting to stay at AS Monaco, he has since slipped down the pecking order. A minor knee complaint also kept him out of Pochettino's 28-man squad for the expanded September–October window, which includes four friendly fixtures.
The U.S. will take on Peru, Chile, Mexico, and Canada with a largely inexperienced group, including 13 uncapped players. Balogun's next chance to pull on the national jersey won't arrive until November's Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals, where he'll be hoping the cloud of controversy has finally begun to lift.