Explained: Folarin Balogun’s World Cup red-card reversal, Trump’s phone calls and Fifa’s rationale

Summary

The surprise move deeming the US striker eligible to play came after the American president reached out to the governing body to appeal for the change Donald Trump has been conspicuous by his absence so far at the World Cup, but unusually he may have been making his presence felt behind the scenes with some quiet diplomacy. In addition to failing to attend a game, despite the USA’s impressive progress to the last 16, Trump had not mentioned the tournament on social media since offering some bland recognition of record attendance figures on 28 June. All that changed on Sunday when he took to Truth Social to thank Fifa for its highly unusual decision to overturnsuspend striker Folarin Balogun’s suspensionban from Monday’s last-16 tie against Belgium. “Thank you to Fifa for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!” Trump wrote. The striker was sent off for a seemingly innocuous challenge on the Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic after scoring the USA’s first goall in the 2-0 win in the last-32 on Wednesday. The Monaco striker, who is a former England Under-21s international, has scored three goals in three starts at the World Cup and has been the key to USA’s attacking hopes. Balogun received a straight red card from referee Raphael Claus after a video review, but the decision was widely condemned as extremely harsh. The Brazilian did not even award a free-kick initially despite standing yards from the incident, but was encouraged to review the incident by the video assistant referee. Slow-motion replays showed Balogun’s foot landing on Muharemovic’s upper ankle. Balogun was given a straight red card for serious foul play, with Fifa confirming two days later that he must serve a one-match ban. Fifa’s disciplinary code does not permit appeals against straight red cards, with officials from the world governing body and US Soccer confirming after the game that the sanction could not be challenged.