Friday, July 17th 2026 - 20:33 UTC
“All I did was ask for a review because I didn't think it was a foul,” Trump said at the time
United States forward Folarin Balogun said he thought it was “a joke” when he was told FIFA had suspended the sanction for his red card, allowing him to play in the World Cup round-of-16 match against Belgium. “Two days before the Belgium match they told me I was allowed to play again, and for me it was unreal; at first I thought it was a joke,” the player said during a conversation with basketball star LeBron James at the Fanatics Fest in New York.
Balogun, the United States' top scorer in the tournament with three goals, was sent off in the round-of-32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, after a VAR review, for a foul on Tarik Muharemović. “When I got the red card, I was in shock, and I think most people watching were too, but I had to accept it,” he recounted.
FIFA's decision was surrounded by controversy over the intervention of US President Donald Trump, who called the body's president, Gianni Infantino, on the day of the sending-off to request a review of the play. “All I did was ask for a review because I didn't think it was a foul,” Trump said at the time, and he celebrated the reversal on his social network. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had also publicly called for the card to be rescinded.
