I know your response because you think it was a red, but what do you make of the argument that “it wasn’t a challenge and so it can’t be serious foul play. It was just his plant foot that lateral momentum and chance caused him to awkwardly land on the opponent.”
I guess the argument is then it’s merely violent conduct instead.
It absolutely WAS a challenge. Balogun was contesting for the ball.
IMO, not violent conduct. VC is generally behavior that endangers others (could actually be toward a teammate), but away from the ball/play in general. Sucker punching an opponent in the penalty area before a corner kick, for instance, would be VC.
I didn’t say he was trying to win the ball with his leg. In fact, I’ll stipulate to that: he was not trying to win the ball with the leg that raked his opponent’s ankle. The ball was in the air, coming from distance. Both players were tracking the ball, and Balogun was also tracking Muharemovic, too. Balogun was putting his body on Muharemovic to try to move him off the ball, or more correctly, move him from the ball’s ‘drop zone’ or at least attempt to disrupt Muharemovic’s control of the ball. Nothing wrong with that kind of challenge as long as you don’t step on his ankle in the process.
It depends, and I’d have to see it. I do think, however, that the chief rationale for having SFP as a send-off offense is that it’s a check on uncontrolled mayhem on 50-50 (or 75-25) balls. We can’t have players just barging into each other like bowling balls into bowling pins.
I feel like I’ve gone through the looking glass every time I see someone talk about “Balogun’s challenge”, often in the context of “reckless”. At best, it was two players jockeying for position as happens a hundred times a game, but at worst it was Muharemovic trying to go through Balogun’s back to get to the ball and throwing them both off balance. If you think Balogun is just supposed to go, “I see you want get to the ball. Let me clear a path for you,” I’m sorry, but that’s not the way the game is played.