US men's national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino said he regrets not being more involved in the circumstances surrounding forward Folarin Balogun's red card suspension during this summer's World Cup.
Balogun received a red card for a challenge against Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemović, a ruling that typically carries a one-game suspension. The ban was suspended before the subsequent match against Belgium after the US Soccer Federation and President Donald Trump lobbied FIFA. Trump said he personally called FIFA President Gianni Infantino to request a review.
Infantino maintains that FIFA's disciplinary committee made the independent decision to reinstate Balogun.
The US lost to Belgium 4-1, a defeat Pochettino attributed partly to the fallout from the Balogun situation. Players and coaches from Belgium said the controversy provided additional motivation. Balogun later said he felt uncomfortable with the attention.
In a Spanish-language interview with broadcaster Andrés Cantor, Pochettino confirmed he was not involved in the decision to overturn the red card. "Maybe I regret not having been more involved," he said.
Pochettino added that he regretted not being "more inside of that decision making process." He said, "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."
Pochettino suggested the negative reaction actively contributed to the defeat. "As a football person, where many times we have that emotional intelligence, we know that energy can change things," he said. "I think that energy changed the minute that happened." He added that the game was then played "under different parameters," rendering tactics or player selection irrelevant to the outcome.
Pochettino indicated that the group involved in US Soccer's efforts to get Balogun on the field may have been too large for his preference. "I think that these types of things have to be managed under a much more limited structure," he said. "Decisions have to be made by very few people and should be strictly sporting and common sense, beyond whether a rule or a committee can say one thing or another."
