USA striker Folarin Balogun will play in his team’s last-16 game against Belgium on Monday after Fifa announced it has suspended the red card and accompanying one-game ban he received against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The decision gives the US a huge boost as they attempt to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2002. Balogun has been a constant threat for the US so far this tournament, and has scored three goals in three starts. Without him, US coach Mauricio Pochettino was scrambling to come up with other options in attack.
Fifa’s disciplinary committee said it made the decision in line with Article 27 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code, which allows it to suspend red cards so long as the discipline is not realted to match-fixing. Balogun will be on a probationary period of one year, meaning the red card technically still remains on his record. If, during that year, Balogun commits what the code refers to as “another infringement of a similar nature and gravity,” the striker will serve his one-game ban.
Fifa previously used Article 27 to clear Cristiano Ronaldo to start the opening games of Portugal’s World Cup after his red card against the Republic of Ireland. A US Soccer spokesperson said on Sunday that the federation was engaged in the process that ended up clearing Balogun for the last-16 game.
President Donald Trump thanked football’s world governing body for suspending the red card.
“Thank you to Fifa for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
US players said that they received news of Balogun’s availability on the team bus on the way to training.
“Some guys are playing Clash Royale, some guys were just in the back listening music, and then think somewhere in between that, we heard all the reports,” defender Chris Richards said. “My family probably sent me eight tweets. I wasn’t sure, nobody told us ahead of time that this was happening. We weren’t quite sure if it was true or not. I think everyone knows with AI and with this and that, there can be a few question marks, but ultimately we found out through social media. It was just cool to finally get the confirmation that it was true.”
Richards said that about 10 minutes passed between the moment when the US players first started getting reports of Balogun’s availability, and getting official confirmation from a US Soccer official by the time they got off the bus for Sunday’s training session – the final one before the all-important Belgium matchup.
“He’s playing it Mr Cool right now,” Richards said of Balogun’s reaction to the news. “We look to Flo to kind of lead the front line, and he’s done it really well so far throughout the tournament, so think we’re really happy and excited that that’s been overturned … clearly they saw something in the decision that they thought deserved to be overturned.”
Richards, Christian Pulisic and Alex Freeman all said that Balogun’s suspension had slightly changed the team’s preparation or training sessions ahead of the Belgium game, and that the team had been prepared to turn out without him.
“We accept the decision of the disciplinary committee and are pleased that Folarin Balogun is eligible to compete tomorrow,” US Soccer said in a statement. The Royal Belgian Football Association was preparing a statement of its own when contacted by the Guardian.
Balogun was sent off for a seemingly innocuous collision with a Bosnia and Herzegovina defender in a last-32 game earlier this week. No foul was initially called, but the video assistant referee (VAR) recommended a review after seeing that Balogun had stepped on the defender’s ankle. Upon reviewing the incident, the referee issued Balogun a straight red for violent conduct.
The decision shocked commentators and the US players and coaching staff, all of whom said the move was unintentional.
“It just feels right,” Pulisic said about the suspension of Balogun’s ban. “I felt like Balo handled it so well, and I think the team handled it well. We weren’t here to complain or make some more [out of it]. You have to handle it in a good way, and you know, good things happen to people like that.”
Fifa and US Soccer officials said at the time that the one-game suspension which accompanies a red card could not be appealed.
On Friday, Balogun said that the experience had been “surreal”. He had been praised for his reaction to a red card most perceived as harsh.
“I never want to react out of anger and out of emotion,” Balogun said. “There’s still lots of people we’re inspiring, little kids, boys and girls who are watching, and we have to show them the correct way to handle things, even when you think it’s unjust.”
