SEATTLE -- Two days after the U.S. men's national team's 2-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina, the loathing-meter for the team's fans as it relates to VAR is still above the red line.
Striker Folarin Balogun's 64th-minute red card, following a lengthy VAR review, has created a sense of injustice not seen since 2002. That was when Germany's Torsten Frings' handling of defender Gregg Berhalter's header off the line went unpunished, helping to eliminate the Americans at the quarterfinal stage of that year's World Cup.
Once again, USMNT fans feel hard done by, and despite a tsunami of wishful thinking, Balogun's red card is not being overturned by the great and powerful FIFA disciplinary committee. Its statutes prevent such an attempt from even being made -- outside of mistaken identity -- bringing to mind the old Billy Bragg lyric, "And the judge said, 'This isn't a court of justice, son. This is a court of law.'"
As a result, Balogun will miss the USMNT's round-of-16 match against Belgium. The only appeal that can take place is to reduce a multigame suspension, if that is indeed what Balogun receives.
So as painful as it will be to see Balogun sitting on the sideline against Belgium on Monday in Seattle, the USMNT must move on and begin to figure out how it will compensate for the forward's absence. The emotional part of that quest has already begun.
"I just told him he's done so much for us, and now we got his back," U.S. attacker Christian Pulisic said after the Bosnia-Herzegovina match.
U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino basically has three options, though one of them isn't really an option at all, so let's dispense with that one first. Last March, in a friendly against Portugal, Pochettino attempted to end Pulisic's goalless streak for club and country by playing the AC Milan attacker as a central striker.
The move didn't go well.
Not only did Pulisic not score, but too often he found himself with his back to goal, up against hulking center backs. In just 45 minutes of that game, he engaged in a team-high seven duels, winning just one of them. That isn't playing to Pulisic's strengths. One would hope that this experiment won't be repeated.
There's another reason, of course, to not go the Pulisic-as-No. 9 route, and that's because in Ricardo Pepi and Haji Wright, the USMNT has two strikers that, while not at the same level as Balogun, are capable. While Pepi did go the full 90 minutes in the dead rubber group stage game against Türkiye, both he and Wright have been pushing for a bigger role in a game that matters. Wright, for one, said he is ready for whatever role he is asked to play.
"I'm happy that we won the game, but Balo was an important part to our team and it's a disappointing way for him to miss the next game," he told reporters Wednesday. "But yeah, I'll always be ready and prepared for whatever comes."
(Pepi didn't stop to talk to reporters in Wednesday's postmatch mixed zone.)
Of the two, Pepi is by far the leading candidate to start, and not just because has received more playing time at this World Cup (184 minutes to one) than Wright. When you compare their respective league seasons, Pepi's link play is superior to Wright's. This is true not only terms of overall passing percentage, where Pepi has an advantage of 83.7% to 68.6%, but also when it comes to connecting passes in the attacking third, with Pepi successfully completing 80.8% of his passes compared to Wright's 71.5%.
It's worth pointing out that no two leagues are the same. The defending is much more physical in the English Championship, where Wright played last season for Coventry City, than it is in the Eredivisie where Pepi played for PSV Eindhoven.
But the recent eye test also supports the notion that Pepi is the better passer. In the pre-World Cup friendly win against Senegal, Pepi had two assists in setting up the first two U.S. goals. Most importantly, he showed an ability to link up with Pulisic by checking to the ball and then playing his teammate into space. With Balogun's ability to run in behind defenses no longer available, that approach could prove critical come Monday.
With Balogun out, much of the creative responsibility will fall on Pulisic. But if Pepi can summon even a little bit of the vision he displayed against Senegal and relieve Pulisic of some of that creative burden, then the Americans' chances of prevailing against Belgium go up considerably.
Pepi also looks more adept at helping the U.S. execute its press. This was one aspect of Balogun's game that was often overshadowed by his goal contributions, but also important. One area where both Pepi and Wright might have an edge over Balogun is in terms of aerial ability. While scoring from headers is as much about timing and movement as it is size, Pepi and Wright are both two and five inches taller, respectively, than Balogun.
At club level this season, Pepi scored six goals with his head, Wright had three, while Balogun had just one. That could make either forward an inviting target for crosses, meaning the delivery from the likes of full backs Antonee Robinson and Sergiño Dest will need to be precise. Robinson's accuracy in particular will need to improve as his 14.3% completion rate on crosses is below the tournament average of 23.7%.
Pochettino does have other options on the roster to play striker, but those are of the in-case-of-emergency-break-glass variety. Attackers like Gio Reyna and Alejandro Zendejas are each attacking forces, but are more effective in roles supporting a central striker as opposed to playing as one.
The hope is that the U.S. won't reach that level of desperation, and that by beating Belgium, Balogun's World Cup won't be over just yet.
