Folarin Balogun of the United States men\u2019s national team is eligible to play in its round of 16 match against Belgium following the suspension of his one-game red card ban, the USMNT announced Sunday.<\/p>\n
Several media reports said that President Donald Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino to ask him to review the matter, while secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick and other White House officials were also involved. Trump praised the decision in a Truth Social post, writing, \u201cThank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!\u201d<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old forward is the leading scorer for the United States with three goals. He scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal in the 45th minute against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday. However, he was tagged with a red card later in the 2-0 match, which triggered an automatic one-game suspension under FIFA World Cup rules.<\/p>\n
Members of the team found out about the suspension lift on their way to training Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a lot of us thought it was AI at first,\u201d defender Chris Richards said. \u201cI think we were really excited because we found out through social media; it was cool. It was a lot of question marks, but just very, very happy and excited overall.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels right,\u201d forward Christian Pulisic added. \u201cReally excited for him to have this opportunity. To see the smile on his face and to be able to give us a boost tomorrow is great.\u201d<\/p>\n
The red card was a controversial one, with former soccer referees and other experts saying the play Balogun made on defender Tarik Muharemovic did not merit the penalty.<\/p>\n
A red card or suspension officially cannot be appealed. FIFA, however, posted this message to its website Sunday about its use of the rule book in the case: \u201cBy operation of Article 27 FDC, the implementation of the automatic match suspension for USA player Folarin Balogun is suspended for a probationary period of one (1) year.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S. Soccer issued its own statement in response to the action: \u201cWe accept the decision of the Disciplinary Committee and are pleased that Folarin Balogun is eligible to complete tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur full attention is focused on the Round of 16 match against Belgium in Seattle, and we look forward to the continued support of our amazing fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Royal Belgian Football Association countered with a lengthy statement from its football federation decrying FIFA\u2019s decision and citing other pieces of the disciplinary code and competition regulations that made red-card decisions sound final.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn order to safeguard the legitimate rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport, both at this FIFA World Cup and at future editions of the tournament,\u201d the statement concluded, \u201cthe RBFA is investigating all potential options.\u201d<\/p>\n
Belgium coach Rudi Garcia began his pre-match press conference Sunday afternoon by declaring he didn\u2019t know the fifth of July had turned into April Fool\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of our thoughts and opinions are in the release,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cWe\u2019re not defending the national team or the federation, we are defending football.\u201d<\/p>\n
This move is not unprecedented in this World Cup.<\/p>\n
Before the start of the tournament last month, Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo faced a three-match suspension. Instead, he sat one match, with the other two suspended and converted to a one-year probation period.<\/p>\n
Balogun scored twice for the Americans in their opener against Paraguay on June 11. He added a goal against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the knockout round Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif.<\/p>\n
The United States\u2019 matchup with Belgium takes place Monday in Seattle. The winner advances to the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
The U.S. has not reached that stage since 2002.<\/p>\n
–Field Level Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Folarin Balogun of the United States men\u2019s national team is eligible to play in its round of 16 match against Belgium following the suspension of his one-game red card ban,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":480888,"template":"","news_cat":[4384,4383,4396,33],"class_list":["post-480887","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news_cat-news","news_cat-story","news_cat-top-story","news_cat-world-cup"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n