Arsenal starlet Folarin Balogun was hacked down on his USMNT debut sparking a major brawl in a recent match against Mexico.
What happened to Balogun on his USMNT debut?
The young striker had a pretty exceptional past season while out on loan in France. Indeed, playing for Ligue 1 outfit Reims, he netted 21 goals and provided two assists in 37 games.
As a result, there was a real clamour at international level to see who the 21-year-old would be playing for, with Balogun having the option to represent either England or the United States of America.
Well, he finally made his decision earlier on in the year, with the Brooklyn-born attacker saying (Via Yahoo Sports): “For my decision to represent the United States, we came together with my family and we decided it would be the right thing for me, the country. I was born in. So I mean, in the end that became a no-brainer.”
Now some time on from making that decision he made his debut this week against Mexico in a fiery encounter which ended 3-0 to USMNT.
However, as shared in footage on the CBS Twitter feed, with the score a -0 and 68 minutes on the clock, Balogun was brutally hacked down by Cesar Montes who was immediately sent off.
The commentator picked up on the awful tackle, saying: “He was chopped down! that’s a red card straight out of the pocket.”
Was their homophobic chanting in USA vs Mexico?
Within seconds, a number of USMNT players charge over to defend Balogun and suddenly chaos descends upon the field of play. Weston McKennie ends up having his shirt ripped off him, but he too gets sent off for his own levels of aggression.
That wasn’t the end of it either as Ricardo Pepi netted a third before Sergino Dest and Gerardo Arteaga both then pick up red card a little later on in the game when another on-field spat broke out.
After the match, Balogun spoke to CBS Sports about the incident that led to McKennie’s sending off, saying (via Goal): “I was on the floor because I was in pain, but when I looked up I saw so many people around and I knew that my team-mates were trying to defend me.
“I would do the same for them. It’s a nice feeling. I’m disappointed about the red cards on our end and hopefully we can control that in the next game.”
What’s more, the CONCACAF Nations League semi-final match was actually halted early by the referee after homophobic chanting from the crowd. A Sky Sports report noted that play was paused in the 90th minute and when action resumed, 12 minutes of stoppage time were signalled but more discriminatory chanting caused Salvadoran referee Ivan Barton to end the match in the eighth minute.
Back in England, there is plenty of doubt about the player’s future at Arsenal, with Sky Sports’ Dharmesh Sheth recently reporting that Inter Milan are interested in signing the striker and are expected to formally approach this summer. He also noted that Balogun wants a permanent move away to get regular first-team football next term.
