Folarin Balogun Slams Referee & Calls Out Panama’s ‘Unprofessional’ Attitude After Brutal Christian Pulisic Tackle

Things went completely south for the United States Men’s National Team tonight against Panama. The Star and Stripes endured a 2-1 loss against their Group C rivals, making their journey to the next stage of the competition quite difficult. While it’s the USMNT who is in question for the result, star player Folarin Balogun has rather shifted the blame towards the referee and even slammed the rivals for their ‘silly’ display.

The youngster wasn’t impressed with the outcome of the match and remains discontent over how things unfolded during the course of 90 minutes. Speaking to Stadium Astro in the post-match interview, while addressing the loss, he said, “Huge disappointment I think, you could see by the reaction. A few things went against us, of course, the red card, but that’s the nature of the game. We just have to recover and prepare for the next game.”

Balogun then questioned the El Salvadorian referee, Iván Arcides Barton Cisneros, for his careless decisions that cost the USMNT. “Towards the end of the game, It’s getting silly. It’s obviously the referee job to manage the match. I mean you can’t control that part. I didn’t think the way the game was finished was in a professional manner,” he added.

Balogun’s discontent stems from the brutal tackle that his skipper Christian Pulisic sustained from Panama’s midfielder Adalberto Carrasquilla. The AC Milan forward was seen in discomfort and even confronted Carrasquilla by giving him a push. Fortunately, justice was served as Panama also went 10 men down after the referee sent off the Panama midfielder. But the USMNT didn’t have much time to capitalize as they lost the game, with Balogun’s strike also going in vain.

A golazo from Folarin Balogun went in vain as USMNT struggled against a dominant Panama side

One would suggest that the USMNT lost its momentum after Tim Weah was sent off. However, Gregg Berhalter and Co. are lucky to have lost the game with a narrow margin. A total of 13 shots, with 4 on target, including a 74% possession clearly suggest that Panama was the dominant side in today’s fixture. It’s impressive compared to USMNT’s total of 6 shots, out of which only half of them were on target, followed by a 26% possession.

However, one can cut some slack to the Americans over a few disallowed goals. They also couldn’t handle the rough game of Panama, with the referee also misjudging a few challenges. Despite being down to 10 men, the USA took the lead through Folarin Balogun, but minutes later, the score was equalized. Subsequently, Panama secured a win before they also were reduced to 10 men. Overall, quite an eventful night!