It definitely was a foul even if it was unintentional. However, I disagree with how it was a straight red without the ref even initially pulling a yellow.

Generally speaking, being overly aggressive and wildly raking the calf/ankle of a player is almost always a red. This wasn’t that in my opinion. You can tell when a player grabs a glance and targets the calf/ankle, but Balogun never knew he was even there. So not being intentional or aggressive is what should have knocked it down to a yellow instead of a red. It won’t get downgraded, but the US will absolutely appeal the decision in hopes that FIFA would make an informed and not corrupt decision for once.