US fans react to Balogun’s red card revocation
USAT’s Madison Tenenbaum asked American fans what they thought of the World Cup after Folarin Balogun’s red card was rescinded and he was cleared to play against Belgium.
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With just hours left before the scheduled start of their World Cup last-16 match, Belgium have been granted the right to appeal FIFA’s overturning of the one-match suspension of US striker Folarin Balogun.
However, the Belgian Football Federation said FIFA had deliberately created a bureaucracy so that any appeals would be “declared inadmissible”.
The Athletic first reported that the Belgian federation and the U.S. Soccer Federation have been asked to submit arguments to the FIFA Appeals Committee by 8 a.m. ET on Monday, July 6. A ruling could be made before the game kicks off at 8 p.m. ET, but Belgium has not yet received any guarantees that it will do so.
Balogun received a red card in the United States’ win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, but his suspension for Sunday’s game against Belgium was rescinded after President Donald Trump directly asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino to reconsider.
The Belgian federation said it was “surprised” by FIFA’s decision to impose a one-year suspension.
Belgium coach Rudi Garcia expressed similar dissatisfaction with FIFA’s decision in a media interaction on Sunday.
“I thought the World Cup was in July, not April. Now it’s April Fool’s Day,” Garcia said Sunday through the FIFA translation app. “We are not defending national teams or federations. We are defending football.”
The Athletic previously reported that Belgium had asked for a detailed explanation of the upset, but that it had not been made public. However, FIFA’s disciplinary committee is not obliged to make that information public.
With three goals, Balogun became the United States’ leading scorer at this year’s World Cup. His presence in the lineup will give Team USA a big boost to advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Belgian federation issues statement
The Royal Belgian Football Association has already expressed its displeasure with FIFA’s decision to revoke Balogun’s suspension.
On Monday, the RBFA issued an updated statement “publicly explaining the events of the past few hours”.
The federation said it had initially only asked FIFA for a detailed explanation of the process for allowing Balogun to return to Monday’s match.
FIFA provided no further explanation and said it had considered the allegations and a judge had been appointed as a result. The RBFA said the action “ensures that it will be declared unacceptable with immediate effect”.
The federation also claimed that FIFA “deliberately omitted items regarding the automatic suspension of players from the presentation” during the match coordination meeting between the United States and Belgium.
“Nonetheless, this topic was part of every meeting held before each of the last four games,” the statement said. “The RBFA has asked FIFA both verbally and in writing about the reasons for this change, but has once again received no response.”
