Pochettino strongly disagreed with the sending-off, insisting Balogun had no intention of hurting his opponent. The USMNT coach also revealed that the forward was disappointed after learning that he would miss the next match.
“For me? Never a red card,” Pochettino said. “Never an intention to step on the player. It was a normal action in football that happened by accident.
“He’s very disappointed. It was an action that wasn’t intention, he’s sad. We cannot do anything to change this feeling. This is soccer, this is football. For sure he’s going to help us to perform and hopefully we can go to the next round so he can be available again.”
In addition, Weston McKennie also agreed with his coach, stating that the players in the dressing room were disappointed with the referee’s decision. He said: “I have not watched it back, but the guys talk about it in the locker room, and I feel like obviously the ref made a decision that he made, but I think it’s questionable.
“I think there have been many other plays like that throughout the tournament on other players that a card wasn’t given at all, so it’s disappointing, and I don’t know the protocol of how they come to the conclusion. But yeah, from what my teammates have said, I don’t think it’s a red card. If anything, maybe yellow, but unintentional.”
