World Cup 2026 Soccer Lionel Messi had similar play as USMNT star Folarin Balogun — but didn’t earn red card as controversy brews By Erich Richter Published July 2, 2026, 11:16 a.m. ET See more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on Google Lionel Messi got a friendly whistle. Folarin Balogun did not and paid a massive price.
The USMNT star forward received a red card Wednesday, which has been described as “insane” and “Why FIFA sucks” by fans — and those same people won’t want to see that Messi didn’t even get a card for an extremely similar play earlier in the tournament.
Messi previously caught Algerian captain Aissa Mandi studs-up while on defense, trying to tackle the ball away from behind during the group stage of the tourney.
The tackle saw Messi step on the back of Mandi’s calf, forcing the center down in a heap of pain.
Messi did not receive a yellow or red card as Balogun did when he jockeyed for position in a free-ball scenario with Bosnia-Herzegovina center back Tarik Muharemovic in Wednesday’s 2-0 win.
One piece of this puzzle is that Muharemovic laid on the ground after the collision, forcing the referees to controversially use their VAR (Video Assistant Referee) technology to review the play in slow motion.
When Mandi was on the ground, he was clearly in pain but did not milk the situation, and his Algerian teammates did not surround the referees to force a review.
Perhaps Messi got some preferential treatment, something Balogun has not yet earned, but it is a debilitating break for this USA squad.
“It’s 100 percent a red card for Lionel Messi,” ESPN FC pundit Ale Moreno, a former MLS star, said on June 16. “Should have been. It plays along this narrative that great players get preferential treatment. When he was about to score a hat trick and the goalkeeper, [Luca] Zidane, actually made a save, they showed [FIFA president] Gianni Infantino smiling. He was like, ‘Oh, man, that was close.’ It does play into that narrative of, ‘Oh, yeah, this guy’s getting a different sort of treatment’.”
Messi ultimately tallied a hat trick in the game as Argentina won 3-0.
Balogun wasn’t as lucky as Messi in the Round of 32 and is slated to miss the USMNT’s Round of 16 match against Belgium on Monday.
