![\"Folarin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1783388655_532_4JLX7ZB_AFP__20260702__063_2284252185__v3__HighRes__UsaVBosniaAndHerzegovinaRoundOf32FifaWor_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nThe United States face the biggest day of football in their history as they play Belgium in what will be a spicy encounter for a place in the World Cup quarter-finals after an intervention by Donald Trump further fired up the Belgians.<\/p>\n
Kick-off is at midday NZT. Follow all the action below:<\/p>\n
The United States face the biggest day of football in their history as they play Belgium in what will be a spicy encounter for a place in the World Cup quarter-finals after an intervention by Donald Trump further fired up the Belgians.<\/p>\n
They are furious US star striker Folarin Balogun can play after a one match ban was suspended for a year – the decision came after Trump phoned Fifa chief Gianni Infantino<\/p>\n
The Royal Belgian Football Association said in a statement it had “no alternative but to challenge the player’s eligibility for the upcoming match.”<\/p>\n
Balogun, who has scored three goals at the World Cup, had been set to miss the clash in Seattle after receiving a straight red card following a video review for stepping on a Bosnia-Herzegovina defender’s foot in the round-of-32 match that the US won 2-0.<\/p>\n
Under FIFA rules, a straight red card automatically triggers a one-game ban.<\/p>\n
Trump called Infantino asking him to review Balogun’s punishment, two sources familiar with the matter told AFP.<\/p>\n
World football’s governing body said on Sunday the ban will now be suspended for a year, in a stunning move for which no specific explanation was offered.<\/p>\n
“Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.<\/p>\n
The US team welcomed the decision, which coach Mauricio Pochettino called “fair”, but it sparked outrage from Belgium and other teams.<\/p>\n
European football’s governing body UEFA slammed the ruling declaring FIFA had “crossed a red line”.<\/p>\n
“We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision,” added UEFA in a strongly-worded statement.<\/p>\n
The European Union also took issue with Trump’s intervention.<\/p>\n
“Influencing sporting decisions would undermine the autonomy of sport,” said EU sports commissioner Glenn Micallef.<\/p>\n
“Our focus should instead be on the real governance challenges facing sport, including the weaponisation of sport for political purposes.”<\/p>\n
The Belgian government were non-plussed by the decision calling it “incomprehensible”.<\/p>\n
England coach Thomas Tuchel, asked about the Balogun case after having one of his own players sent off in the nerve-jangling 3-2 win against Mexico on Sunday, said: “Where does this start and end now? Can we overturn it?<\/p>\n
“Where to draw the line is the question I ask. Where does this end now?<\/p>\n
“It’s my question, I don’t have an answer,” the German added.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
US striker Folarin Balogun<\/p>\n
JAMIE SQUIRE \/ AFP<\/p>\n
‘Trying to kill me’<\/p>\n
Tuchel’s compatriot Jurgen Klopp, who is in line to become the next coach of Germany, did not mince his words.<\/p>\n
“This is our game, not theirs… If Trump and Infantino really worked this all out between themselves, that’s crazy. It calls everything into question…<\/p>\n
“These two individuals, neither of whom has a clue about football, shouldn’t have anything to do with it,” the 59-year-old added.<\/p>\n
The stakes in Monday’s game are huge for the co-hosts. Playing on home soil, a strong US start to the tournament has raised expectations to fever-pitch levels among the American public.<\/p>\n
Mauricio Pochettino’s side are targeting a historic run to at least the quarter-finals, which they have not reached since 2002.<\/p>\n
In the first game Monday, European champions Spain face neighbours Portugal in Dallas for a place in the last eight.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo came out fighting against critics he said had been “trying to kill me for the past 23 years”.<\/p>\n
Ronaldo, 41, admitted he was not the player he used to be, but said “I am not doing too bad”, pointing to the three goals he has scored at the tournament.<\/p>\n
Relishing taking on journalists eager to ask about his future and the harsh spotlight on him, Ronaldo told reporters: “It’s been like this since I was 18, it is not going to change.”<\/p>\n
Spain started the World Cup sluggishly but found their form in breezing past Austria 3-0 in the last 32 and their own superstar, 18-year-old Lamine Yamal, is ready to showcase his precocious talents, coach Luis de la Fuente said.<\/p>\n
“He likes to be the focus, he likes the responsibility, he likes to take the initiative,” said de la Fuente.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States face the biggest day of football in their history as they play Belgium in what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-513310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}