SEATTLE — When the U.S. men's national soccer team steps on the field Monday to face Belgium in the FIFA World Cup Round of 16, it will do so with its star striker back in the lineup and a cloud of controversy hanging overhead.
Before the weekend, there were already plenty of questions about U.S. forward Folarin Balogun and the red card he received in last week's Round of 32 match against Bosnia-Herzegovina that should have sidelined him this game with an automatic suspension:
Was his contact with the Bosnian defender's leg intentional? Had the video referee followed regulations when he scrutinized the play in slow motion? Should it have been escalated all the way to a red card when the referee on the field initially thought there was no foul at all? Why had Balogun been punished so severely when other seemingly similar plays in this World Cup had avoided punishment altogether?
By the time the U.S. team had arrived in Seattle, Balogun and his teammates seemed to set those questions aside and accept their fate: The American men would prepare for their biggest game in a generation without their leading scorer.
Then came Sunday's one-two punch of stunning and controversial developments.
First, a FIFA disciplinary panel made the surprise announcement that Balogun's one-game suspension would be suspended for a year-long probationary period, allowing the striker to play against Belgium.
Then, soon after, reports broke that President Trump spoke personally with FIFA President Gianni Infantino after the Round of 32 game. According to an official with knowledge of the extraordinary call, who spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation, Trump directly asked Infantino about the red card and the one-game suspension. (FIFA has not responded to NPR's request for comment.)
By Sunday afternoon, when Belgian coach Rudi Garcia arrived at the Seattle stadium for a routine pre-game press conference, he was in disbelief at the news. "I didn't know that, in the FIFA offices, July 5th was April Fool's Day," he said.
The bare-bones statement from the FIFA disciplinary committee did not explain why Balogun's suspension would be delayed. The lack of transparency, followed so soon by reports of the Trump-Infantino call, led to an uproar in the world of football.
The Royal Belgian Football Association said Sunday it was "astonished" by FIFA's surprise decision and vowed to pursue "all potential options" for recourse. "The Belgian federation isn't only defending itself or the national team — it is defending all of football, its integrity and its ethics," Garcia said.
For its part, the U.S. team was content to put its head down and accept the good news.
"It was a fair decision because it was never a red card. It was a mistake," said U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino on Sunday. "Everyone has said it, 99.9% of people, that it was an unfair punishment."
FIFA had already been criticized in this World Cup for delaying a suspension for Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo, who received a red card during a qualifying match last November. The resulting three-game suspension could have sidelined Ronaldo for Portugal's first two World Cup games, but FIFA put the suspension on hold under the same regulation that allowed Balogun to play.
Belgium is the toughest opponent the U.S. has faced so far at this World Cup. The Belgians entered the tournament ranked No. 9 by FIFA; the U.S. was No. 17. In March, the two teams met in an international friendly match in which the Americans took an early 1-0 lead, but shortly after, Belgium took control and won easily, 5-2.
"The result didn't quite go our way. But that's okay, we learned from it," said U.S. defender Chris Richards on Sunday. "Ultimately, we're looking to the game tomorrow as a tough one, but also going into this game with confidence because of what we've done so far in the tournament."
A win would send the U.S. through to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002, which remains the deepest run by an American men's team in the modern era of the World Cup. There, the U.S. would face the winner of Monday's early match between European powerhouses Spain and Portugal.
Yet a U.S. victory — especially one that hinges on Balogun's performance — would surely be dogged by criticism and questions about whether the result was fair, given FIFA's extraordinary intervention.
After Norway advanced to the quarterfinal with a 2-1 win over Brazil on Sunday afternoon, coach Ståle Solbakken called the decision to allow Balogun to play "a big mistake by FIFA."
"What about the next red card? What happens then? Is there going to be some committee somewhere that is going to take that card away?" he said. "It's a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad decision that will hurt the World Cup."
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