Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe Royal Belgian Football Association is \u201cinvestigating all potential options\u201d to \u201csafeguard the legitimate rights of allparticipating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n
Balogun has been key to the USA\u2019s progress in the tournament and his absence against Belgium would have been a blow to the team inthe game in Seattle. <\/p>\n
He has netted three times for the US this World Cup, including his brace in the opener against Paraguay.<\/p>\n
US coach Mauricio Pochettino said Balogun should \u201cnever\u201d have received a red card for the incident, insisting his player had simply been \u201cfighting for the ball\u201d andthe contact was not intentional. <\/p>\n
Pochettino said at the time it \u201cshould be fair\u201d to appeal the decision. But after being informed a FIFA spokesman had saidthe ban could not be appealed, the US coach had appeared to accept he would have to consider \u201cdifferent options\u201d to lead histeam\u2019s attack against Belgium. <\/p>\n
Balogun himself told reporters on Friday the red card ban was \u201csomething I have to just accept\u201d and that he was focused on simplysupporting his teammates from the stands. <\/p>\n
The decision to suspend the ban was taken by FIFA\u2019s disciplinary committee. FIFA\u2019s decision came after US Secretary of StateMarco Rubio had called for the card to be rescinded. <\/p>\n
– \u2018Boost\u2019 –<\/p>\n
\u201cIn line with article 27 of the FIFA disciplinary code, the implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationaryperiod of one year,\u201d a FIFA statement said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf Folarin Balogun commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revokedand the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement.\u201d There is some precedentfor the decision. <\/p>\n<\/amp-img>United States’ Folarin Balogun (20) walks off the field after receiving a red card during the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between the United States and Bosnia in Santa Clara, Calif., near San Francisco, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jeff Chiu)<\/span>Source: AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nPortugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off against Ireland for an elbow during a qualifying match for this World Cup.<\/p>\n
The subsequent three-game ban meant the five-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner was due to miss the opening two games of the 2026 WorldCup. <\/p>\n
But FIFA let him off the hook by suspending two matches of his ban. Balogun\u2019s teammates on Sunday welcomed the move. <\/p>\n
\u201cObviously for us it gives us a boost,\u201d star forward Christian Pulisic told reporters in Seattle at training, The Athleticreported. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe accept the decision of the Disciplinary Committee and are pleased that Folarin Balogun is eligible to compete tomorrow,\u201d said US Soccer in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur full attention is focused on the Round of 16 match against Belgium in Seattle, and we look forward to the continued supportof our amazing fans.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump on Sunday thanked FIFA for suspending Folarin Balogun\u2019s one-match ban and allowing the US striker to play in the World Cup co-hosts\u2019 last-16 showdown against Belgium. Balogun had been set to miss Monday\u2019s match after being shown a straight red card following a VAR review for stepping on the foot of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-251566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}