FIFA announced on Sunday its decision to suspend the red card for U.S. men’s national team striker Folarin Balogun in their World Cup round of 32 game against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Now the fallout has occurred over what led soccer’s governing body to reverse the call.
Balogun was sent off in the 64th minute of the game when a review from VAR claimed there was “serious foul play” when his studs landed on the ankle of the Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemovic during a challenge for the ball.
A red card means an automatic one-game suspension for the New York-born player, according to FIFA rules. However, the organization said, “By 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.”
After days of discussions about whether the call was right or not, there was a surprising twist to the story.
According to a report, President Donald Trump called FIFA leader Gianni Infantino to review the suspension. Following news of the reversal, Trump went on to say: “Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!”
This is not the first time FIFA has overturned a red card suspension for a player. In November last year, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo was supposed to go through a three-game suspension after getting sent off in a game against Ireland. However, he also underwent a suspended ban. Thus, he was able to play in his country at the start of the World Cup.
The reaction to Balogun being allowed to play against Belgium on Monday has been mixed. For the U.S., it has been relief, although they took it as a bit of a surprise in the beginning.
As for Belgium, anger and bewilderment, as it appears FIFA is making up the rules in the tournament as it goes along.
“I didn’t know that at the World Cup, the 5th of July is actually the first of April — it’s April Fools’ [Day],” said Belgium’s head coach Rudi Garcia.
The coach went on to note that the Royal Belgian Football Association’s statement online expresses that the decision runs counter to FIFA’s guidelines it had put out ahead of the tournament about players’ automatic suspension for receiving a red card.
Garcia, along with the team’s goalkeeper Thibault Courtois, did not elaborate about the reversal. It is unclear whether it will appeal the decision. However, it has until early Monday morning to appeal to FIFA to make a final decision ahead of the game at Seattle Stadium.
