Live television doesn’t give much room to hide any tension, and that is exactly what happened during a FOX Sports broadcast. When Thierry Henry made an apparent dig at his co-host Alexi Lalas, it wasn’t missed. It also caught the attention of former Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart.
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“This dude is so arrogant,” he posted on X.
Henry and Lalas got into a tiff on FOX Sports this week regarding the Folarin Balogun-FIFA controversy. Balogun’s red card in the Bosnia match meant he would not be able to play the Belgium one. But FIFA overturned the decision, invoking Article 27, and has instead placed the forward on a year’s probation.
This dude is so arrogant.
Balogun went on to play, but Team USA fell 4-1 to Belgium. That loss is what set off Henry’s comments on air.
“I do agree with the fact that it wasn’t a red,” Henry said. “Because if I was a player and someone had given me a red like that, I wouldn’t have accepted that. But I don’t agree with how they rescinded the red. Do you understand what I’m saying?
“What FIFA did wasn’t right, but it was the right thing in terms of not giving a red. That should have been a decision that was done on the field, not after… I didn’t agree with that at all.”
“Why isn’t it right?” Lalas pressed.
“Because it’s not right,” Henry shot back. “Article 27 doesn’t say that. That’s my opinion; what FIFA did wasn’t right. It wasn’t a red, but what FIFA did wasn’t right.”
Lalas repeatedly steered the conversation toward Cristiano Ronaldo, who’d received a similar deferred suspension ahead of the tournament under a separate FIFA ruling.
Last November, Ronaldo was shown a red card for violent conduct in Portugal’s qualifier against Ireland, which would have cost him two matches in this World Cup. FIFA used Article 27 to defer this extended punishment, as he had already served his immediate one-game suspension after the Ireland match.
“That’s on you to talk about if you want to talk,” Henry replied. “I’m talking about Balogun, and this is the World Cup.”
Co-host Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who sat between the two, was weirdly silent.
In a previous episode, as the former soccer greats gathered to play a little in the studio, Henry seemed to pass the ball to Lalas. However, the former USMNT icon was bamboozled at the end, with Henry dragging the ball away at the last second.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic fueled the fire by captioning the clip as, “The studio will never forget.”
The two seemed to have teamed up against Lalas, too. There was an instance where Lalas was on the desk during a coverage, leaving Henry, Ibra, and Rebecca Lowe. When she highlighted Lalas’ absence, Henry said, “Who?”
Ibrahimovic added, “America, you’re welcome.”
With the World Cup action ongoing, this turbulent dynamic will continue to be tested.