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I don't follow much soccer but I know every other sport has an arbitration process where a player is given a chance to challenge his suspension and the governing body can determine if his (or his representatives) argument is just.
I do think every player should be granted a review process on suspensions just like other sports. Referees make poor judgement calls all the time. Maybe this will lead to a change in the sport where arbitrary rule by one individual (the ref) doesn't decide the outcome of future matches that they aren't even officiating. We have seen a lot of betting scandals in sports lately. This could definitely lead to corruption. The ref could give a red card to Messi if he wants to ensure he doesn't play the next game so he can bet against Argentina. That seems like a major flaw in the system of maintaining integrity in the game.
I am impartial in this. I live in Canada. I don't care if the US wins or not. I think red card one game suspensions in tournament play without review is kind of stupid.
Come on. You live in a democratic country, so you know that rules cannot be changed at the will of a single individual, as happened here. The rule is simple: if a player receives a red card, they are suspended for the next match. That rule cannot be changed by one or two people. Any change would have to be officially approved and apply to every player, not just one particular player.
On the football field, you can do everything you can to win, even push the limits of the rules. But once you receive a red card, you are not allowed to play the next match, and nobody has the authority to change that rule on a whim.
If that had been possible, then players from other teams who received red cards should also have been forgiven. Why was only the USA player exempt?
I think it's clear why I consider the player's behavior unprofessional. He knows the rules because he is a professional footballer. He also knows that a president cannot simply change the rules whenever he wants.