SEATTLE — After initially confirming Folarin Balogun would be out for the U.S. Men’s National Team’s round of 16 match in Seattle on Monday against Belgium, FIFA abruptly reversed course on Sunday, announcing a suspension of the striker’s one-match ban.
FIFA hasn’t given any sort of detailed explanation about why it reconsidered or overturned the red card given in Wednesday’s round of 32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the move is nearly without recent precedent. One of its own vice presidents reportedly called it an “utter disgrace.”
The U.S. staged a full lobbying campaign.
President Donald Trump called FIFA three times about it, including bringing up the referee’s past allegations of match fixing, according to The New York Times. The government assembled lawyers to help U.S. Soccer make its case about the misuse of slow motion replay to hand out the red card. The federation also threatened to take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, according to The New York Post.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has a close relationship with Trump, having rented FIFA office space at Trump Tower in New York, accompanied him on official trips, advocated for him to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and created the FIFA Peace Prize for him.
