Overturning the questionable red card against star striker Folarin Balogun was a concerted effort from the U.S. Soccer Federation, per the latest reports.
Balogun exited last week’s Round of 32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina after receiving a questionable red card when accidentally stepped on the right ankle of BIA defender Tarik Muharemovic. Even though the ref did not even issue a yellow card before VAR intervened and even though no action of intent had been prevented, Balogun received a red card nonetheless, which meant a full-game suspension for the upcoming Round of 16 match against Belgium. As the days passed, it seemed as if there would be repeal of the decision until FIFA confirmed on Sunday that Balogun’s suspension would be under probation.
According to The Athletic, part of FIFA’s disciplinary code states that “the judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure.”
“If the person benefiting from a suspended sanction commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked by the judicial body and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement,” the rule added.
According to the New York Post, the decision came after “U.S. Soccer threatened legal action against FIFA for incorrectly applying its video assistant referee process.”
A source with intimate knowledge of the process told The Post on Sunday that, despite FIFA’s rules that a case such as Balogun’s cannot be appealed, a group that was led by U.S. Soccer CEO JT Batson and COO Dan Helfrich fought the ruling based on VAR having been applied incorrectly.
The source said U.S. Soccer attorneys were involved as were White House attorneys, and this went as high up as President Donald Trump, who reached out to FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
Infantino told Trump it was a matter, which was already under review by FIFA’s disciplinary committee, for an independent committee. It was the disciplinary committee that ultimately overturned the ban.
One source said that U.S. Soccer even threatened FIFA with bringing the issue to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) – a supreme global judiciary for athletic disputes for issues ranging from doping violations, match fixing, and on-field violence.
“A legal appeal was sent to FIFA,’’ the source said. “They wanted to avoid CAS. The CAS legal was ready to go.’’
U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino said he had no hand in U.S. Soccer’s fight against FIFA and that he had been “focused on trying to prepare the team to face Belgium.’’
“Of course, the [U.S. Soccer] Federation was working really hard to defend our situation,’’ Pochettino said. “My reaction is like everyone who really loves the sport and trusts in the ethics and integrity [of it]. We celebrate that decision. We were punished enough against Bosnia and Herzegovina, playing with 10 men for 30 minutes [because of] a decision that was completely unfair.’’