{"id":287616,"date":"2026-07-05T23:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T23:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/287616\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T23:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T23:53:09","slug":"thank-you-fifa-for-reversing-a-great-injustice-how-trump-the-world-reacted-to-baloguns-ban-reprieve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/287616\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Thank you FIFA for reversing a great injustice!\u2019 How Trump, the world reacted to Balogun\u2019s ban reprieve"},"content":{"rendered":"

The whole world thought the United States would have to be without its star striker, Folarin Balogun, for its crucial World Cup round-of-16 game against Belgium.<\/p>\n

Balogun had been shown a straight red card in the U.S.\u2019s previous World Cup match, the 2-0 round-of-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, triggering an automatic one-game ban, which multiple FIFA officials had told The Athletic could not be appealed.<\/p>\n

But on Sunday afternoon, just a day before the USMNT faces Belgium at Lumen Field in Seattle,\u00a0The Athletic revealed Balogun would, in fact, be available<\/a>. This was later confirmed by statements from FIFA, which organizes the World Cup, and U.S. Soccer. \u201cThe implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year,\u201d FIFA said.<\/p>\n

Balogun\u2019s red card for a foul on Bosnia\u2019s defender Tarik Muharemovic proved controversial at the time, with U.S. head coach Mauricio Pochettino and winger Christian Pulisic among those to criticize the decision immediately after Wednesday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

It is no surprise, then, that the decision from FIFA\u2019s disciplinary committee \u2014 which has the power to increase bans, as well as fully or partially suspend them \u2014 has also triggered a sizeable reaction, starting from the very top.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!\u201d U.S. President Donald Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.<\/p>\n

\u2018I thought it was AI\u2019<\/p>\n

Balogun\u2019s U.S. teammates, meanwhile, found out about the decision on the team bus to training at the University of Washington on Sunday. \u201cObviously, for us it gives us a boost,\u201d Pulisic told reporters at training.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, if you look at the foul, it was just \u2014 it\u2019s zero intent at all. I felt like there was much worse ones that went on at this tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cBalo handled it so well, and I think the team handled it well. We weren\u2019t here to complain or make some \u2014 like, you have to handle it in a good way, and, you know, good things happen to people like that. He was so positive and all for the team. It just feels right, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know when Balo found out,\u201d defender Chris Richards said to reporters. \u201cIf he knew before us, he kept it quiet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of us thought it was AI at first, but I think we\u2019re really excited. We found out through social media. \u2026 I thought it was AI and stuff. There\u2019s a lot of people posting a lot of stuff. So, we weren\u2019t sure if it was true or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, to be fair, we were lit on the bus regardless. We had our speaker in the back, so we were just listening to music. Then one person said something, another person said another thing, and nobody wanted to confirm it. So, like I said, pretty much right when we got here (was) when we found out that it was true.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Balogun's<\/p>\n

\n Balogun\u2019s foul on Muharemovic drew a straight red card after a video assistant review. (Michael Steele \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Asked about Balogun\u2019s reaction, Richards added: \u201cI think he\u2019s keeping it cool right now. I think he was still nervous about if it was true or not. But I think he\u2019s very excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very happy, we know how much impact he can make on the game,\u201d U.S. defender Alex Freeman said. \u201cFinding out he\u2019s available just gives us extra confidence. It was a process, but knowing he\u2019s back, we\u2019re just happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no clue (it was coming), I just found out this morning. It\u2019s a little strange, I have no clue how it happened, we\u2019re just happy it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether justice had now been served, Pulisic added: \u201cI mean, it\u2019s not for me to decide that. But of course \u2014 I think a lot of people could look at that (foul), and yeah, it was extremely harsh. So if you want to call it justice, you know, call it whatever. I mean, we were prepared to play without him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been granted this now opportunity to have him, which is great for us. And I\u2019m mostly just happy for him. Again, seeing that smile on his face, he deserves to be playing in this game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s April Fools\u2019<\/p>\n

Not all the reaction to Balogun\u2019s red card suspension being reversed has been positive.<\/p>\n

The Belgian federation said it was \u201castonished\u201d by the decision, that it was in \u201cdirect contradiction\u201d with the competition regulations and said it is exploring \u201call potential options.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement from the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) continued: \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, the RBFA is investigating all potential options.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Belgian federation isn\u2019t just defending itself or the national team; it\u2019s defending football in general \u2014 its integrity and its ethics,\u201d Belgium head coach Rudi Garcia said in French, via a translator, at his team\u2019s press conference later on Sunday<\/a>. \u201cAs far as I recall, I think this is the first time in World Cup history that a decision like this has been made. Anyway, I\u2019m the coach, so I\u2019m going to focus on my team and the match \u2014 it doesn\u2019t matter who makes up the USA\u2019s starting lineup. What matters to me is the pitch, my team, winning, and reaching the quarterfinals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garcia added: \u201cI didn\u2019t know that at the World Cup the 5th of July is actually the first of April. It\u2019s April Fools.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Garcia<\/p>\n

\n Garcia appeared bemused by FIFA\u2019s decision (Imagn Images via Reuters \/ Steven Bisig)<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the game\u2019s governing body, FIFA is literally a law unto itself, and its latest decision to excuse U.S striker Folarin Balogun from a suspension is out of line with its most recent precedent,\u201d Graham Scott, a former Premier League referee for a decade, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the group stages, Qatari player Assim Madibo had his mandatory one-match ban upgraded to five games after he broke the leg of the unfortunate Isma\u00ebl Kon\u00e9 of Canada. His tackle and Balogun\u2019s tackles were similar, in that neither is malicious, but both inadvertently put opponents at risk of serious or actual injury. The on-field referees initially awarded yellow cards, which was reasonable, before VAR watched replays that prompted upgrades to red.<\/p>\n

\u201cFar worse tackles delivered at great speed and intensity sometimes result in lesser sanctions because the aggressor happens to miss his target. That doesn\u2019t feel fair to me, as players deserve to be judged on their actions, not the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018The right call \u2013 but why didn\u2019t it happen straight away?\u2019<\/p>\n

Reacting to the decision on Fox\u2019s broadcast ahead of Sunday\u2019s Brazil-Norway last-16 game, Thierry Henry, who worked as an assistant coach with the Belgium national team from August 2016 to October 2018, said: \u201cThat\u2019s exactly what it is for Belgium, it\u2019s breaking news \u2014 it must have broke their spirits a tiny bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause you prepare to play the game a certain way and then suddenly you have to change your preparation. This is what happens when you do something like that \u2014 three, four days to make a decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not think it was a red card. We all said it. We all know he did not do that on purpose. We all know that. If you\u2019re Belgium, to prepare the game, it does change everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cOK, it is the right call, but why so late? Why didn\u2019t it happen straight away?\u201d<\/p>\n

Former England defender Gary Neville, working for UK broadcaster ITV, said the decision \u201cabsolutely stinks\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be absolutely raging if I was Belgium, and every other team in the tournament that\u2019s had a player sent off that might think it\u2019s been a little bit hard done to. And do you know something, are we surprised? No, not with this lot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Neville\u2019s former England teammate Ian Wright, also working for ITV, said: \u201cWe\u2019re talking about integrity, people talking about transparency, but you look at some of the things that\u2019s happened in this tournament with certain teams, it\u2019s been it\u2019s shameful how things can happen, especially as an American player, whether he\u2019s guilty of what he\u2019s done, whether we think he shouldn\u2019t have got it or not. Some of the things that\u2019s happened in this World Cup have been shameful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rio Ferdinand, the former Manchester United and England defender who is also working for Fox during the World Cup, appeared to take the opposite view posting three clapping emojis on X to the news of Balogun\u2019s availability.<\/p>\n

Congressman Darin LaHood (R-IL), who chairs the Congressional Soccer Caucus, wrote on X: \u201cToday, FIFA made the right decision and lifted the Red Card against USA star striker Flo Balogun. Let\u2019s Goooooooo USA!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The whole world thought the United States would have to be without its star striker, Folarin Balogun, for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[32772,33264,9,11,10,400,8693],"class_list":["post-287616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-fifa-mens-world-cup","tag-international-football","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-soccer","tag-us-mens-national-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}