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.

The US striker’s red card was suspended after Donald Trump made a series of calls to Fifa president Gianni Infantino

July 14 : U.S. striker Folarin Balogun said he knew FIFA's decision to suspend his one-game red-card ban at the World Cup would cause "a lot of controversy", after U.S. President…