FIFA thread...

[rolltide_21]

Belgium lost their appeal

https://twitter.com/x/status/2074180313773903984

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Belgium's argument seems to be that FIFA can't suspend punishments. It can, under Article 27, which is exactly what it has done in this case. It hasn't done it since 1962, but in that case, it was done for a final match, so much heavier consequences. The problem is VAR, which roughly equates to our instant replay, except not nearly so many angles and views. It can be helpful, as in "was the player's toe past the offside line?" or our equivalent - "was the nose of the ball past the first down line?" OTOH, had, in the case of frantic, high speed action, as in this case, it can be horribly misleading. And was. No matter what the pipsqueaks say, FIFA was well within its rights and Balogun will serve his minimum one year probation. Belgium would have done well to keep its mouth shut, since it seems "dog in the manger." They had the US in a (unjustified) weak spot. Now, they're going to have face a full strength team. Makes prep for both teams difficult, on this short notice. I suspect that it'll be a long time before we see a similar situation, but it will also be caused by VAR. BTW, the ref was accused of match fixing in Brazil but was cleared...