United States Men’s National Team star striker Folarin Balogun was facing a suspension for Monday’s round of 16 match against Belgium following a red card during the team’s win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, that punishment has now been suspended, and fans aren’t exactly happy.
Balogun’s Punishment Suspended
On Sunday, FIFA announced that it had suspended the punishment for Balogun’s red card, allowing him to be eligible to play against Belgium on Monday.
“The FIFA disciplinary committee has imposed the following sanction on United States national-team player Folarin Balogun, who was sent off as a result of a direct red card during the FIFA World Cup 2026 match between the United States and Bosnia and Herzegovina played on 1 July 2026 at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium: One-match suspension for breaches of articles 14 and 66 of the FIFA disciplinary code (FDC),” FIFA wrote in a statement via The Athletic.
“In line with article 27 of the FIFA disciplinary code, the implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year. If Folarin Balogun commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement.”
This follows a similar decision FIFA made regarding Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo before the start of the World Cup. FIFA initially gave Ronaldo a three-match ban that stretched into the tournament, but the final two matches of that ban were suspended for a similar “one-year probation period.”
Decision Sparks Outrage
While many USMNT fans were excited about this development, the move sparked widespread outrage from the soccer community, which called out FIFA for appearing to give the United States some special treatment.
“This is much worse than Paraguay’s behaviour & up there with the random Ronaldo suspended sentence for his 3-Match Ban to ensure his availability. Red cards, almost breaking someone’s ankle and elbowing players is actually meant to have consequences but not if you can just make up the rules as you go along. The WC has been fun from a lot of nations but the behaviour of FIFA in some of these decisions, including the hydration breaks is just becoming nonsense. Balogun should be nowhere near a football pitch tomorrow!” prominent soccer analyst John Walker wrote in a post on X.
“The bigger argument will be when FIFA doesn’t do this for the next player to get a red card at the World Cup, because it will be very difficult to explain why not,” wrote German soccer correspondent Seb Stafford-Bloor of The Athletic in a post on X.
“I guess you can almost break someones leg and be good guys. This is crazy stuff!!!” a Bosnian soccer fan account wrote in a post.
“This makes a mockery of the whole tournament. If the USMNT win, Belgium will have every right to feel cheated, meanwhile the USA’s victory – by their best ever generation of players – will forever be tainted by accusations of favouritism and corruption. It’s bad for everyone,” one fan wrote in a post on X.
“This just doesn’t happen if the World Cup isn’t being hosted over there. Painfully corrupt,” another fan wrote.
“Man, it’s hard to believe in this sport when open corruption like this is happening. You can say the red card is soft or that others should have gotten cards for similar fouls but suspending a punishment because FIFA got a call is distasteful,” someone else wrote.
At the time of the decision, FIFA did not give any sort of explanation for suspending the punishment.
About Dave Kelsey
Contributing author to The Comeback.