WASHINGTON, July 6 : FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended world soccer’s disciplinary process on Monday amid an international wave of criticism after U.S. President Donald Trump praised FIFA’s decision to suspend Folarin Balogun’s World Cup red-card ban, and as the controversy spilled over into politics.Infantino said FIFA’s judicial bodies operated “independently and autonomously” and that he had told Trump the Balogun case was subject to an ongoing legal process, even as the U.S. President described the decision to reinstate the United States striker as “brilliant" after personally urging FIFA to review the case.The affair has become the tournament’s biggest controversy, drawing condemnation from European football body UEFA, which said FIFA had "crossed a red line", the Royal Belgian Football Association, several national federations as well as senior coaches, officials and politicians, with critics arguing FIFA had undermined confidence in its own disciplinary system.It also prompted the Belgians, who play the U.S. later on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals, to challenge Balogun's eligibility for the match but their appeal was rejected by FIFA. The player was sent off for a tackle during the U.S. win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, a punishment that usually carries an automatic one-match ban.