SANTA CLARA, Calif. — In the locker room at Levi’s Stadium, Folarin Balogun sat with injured teammate Mark McKenzie and a few team athletic trainers watching the U.S. men’s national team close out a knockout win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.It should have been the best day in Balogun’s career. He was supposed to be out on the field cementing what has been a historic first World Cup for the New York-born striker.Instead, the hero who lifted the Americans into an early lead was left sweating out the images on a television after a controversial red card ruled him out for the remainder of the game. McKenzie watched his teammate on he called “a lonely walk” to the locker room after the red card was issued following a video review. He went to join him a few minutes later to keep him company.Together, they saw the U.S. fight to a 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina that saw the team through to the round of 16 against Belgium — a game Balogun will not be able to play in due to his red card suspension.“It’s just so unfortunate, honestly,” U.S. star Christian Pulisic said. “Looking back at it, it just seems so harsh. I just told him, he’s done so much for us, and now we got his back.”Christian Pulisic consoles Folarin Balogun after his red card (Martin Meissner / AP Photo)Balogun, who was not allowed to speak postgame per FIFA rules, has, without a doubt, been the breakout star of this tournament for the U.S. He scored twice in the opening win over Paraguay, then set up an own goal with his efforts against Australia. The striker sat out the group finale against Turkey, but earlier this week promised he had another gear saved for the knockout stage.In a video posted by U.S. Soccer, he told teammate Joe Scally: “They gonna remember. Trust me.”And for the first hour of Wednesday evening’s round-of-32 knockout game against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Balogun, as he has for much of his U.S. men’s national team career, was delivering on that promise.He was consistently dangerous and saw one goal called back for offside in the 31st minute. Fourteen minutes later, before the stroke of halftime, Balogun’s run into the box was rewarded when Malik Tillman’s pass was redirected into his path. The Monaco striker directed a left-footed finish past Bosnia goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj to lift the U.S. into the lead.It was the easy type of finish of a true goalscorer, one which the American team had been so desperate to find over the past decade. It was fitting that Balogun broke out LeBron James’ “Silencer” celebration. It was a marquee type of finish. The celebration earned him a tweet from the NBA legend.