FIFA lifted Folarin Balogun suspension on Sunday, making the U.S. striker available for Monday’s World Cup Round of 16 against Belgium in Seattle. The ruling replaced a one-game ban with a year-long probationary period and changed the U.S. lineup just before kickoff.
Balogun had been sent off against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif. Belgium entered the match ranked No. 9 by FIFA, while the U.S. was No. 17.
Mauricio Pochettino in Seattle
Mauricio Pochettino said on Sunday that the decision was fair because it was never a red card. “It was a fair decision because it was never a red card. It was a mistake,” he said. He added, “Everyone has said it, 99.9% of people, that it was an unfair punishment.”
Chris Richards pointed back to the teams’ March meeting, when Belgium won 5-2 after the U.S. led 1-0 early. “The result didn’t quite go our way. But that’s OK, we learned from it,” he said. That earlier game gave the U.S. a recent reference point for Belgium’s pressure and pace before the knockout match.
Royal Belgian Football Association response
The Royal Belgian Football Association said Sunday it was astonished by FIFA’s decision and vowed to pursue all potential options for recourse. Rudi Garcia also addressed the ruling at a pregame press conference in Seattle on Sunday, saying, “I didn’t know that, in the FIFA offices, July 5th was April Fool’s Day”.
FIFA had used the same regulation before, putting Cristiano Ronaldo’s 3-game suspension on hold after his red card during a qualifying match last November. That history sits at the center of the dispute around Balogun’s eligibility, with Sunday’s decision arriving after reports that Donald Trump spoke personally with Gianni Infantino about the red card and suspension.
Belgium and the Round of 16
The U.S. played Belgium on Monday with Balogun available, and a win would send the U.S. to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002. If the U.S. advanced, it would face the winner of Monday’s early match between Spain and Portugal.
The immediate effect was simple: the U.S. regained a striker it had expected to lose for the knockout stage. The wider question now is why FIFA chose to suspend the ban for a year-long probationary period under the same rule it used before.
