President Donald Trump has confirmed he asked Fifa to review United States striker Folarin Balogun’s one-match suspension at the World Cup.
Balogun, 25, was set to miss his side’s last-16 tie against Belgium after being shown a straight red card for a foul on Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic in the previous round.
But Fifa made the shock decision to suspend the automatic one-match ban for 12 months – freeing the United States forward, who has scored three goals at this summer’s tournament, to be selected for the match in Seattle.
Trump said football’s world governing body “made the right decision”, adding it would have left a “big stain” on the tournament had the ban been implemented.
Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump said he had asked Fifa to review the decision because he “didn’t think it was a foul”.
He confirmed he had spoken to Fifa president Gianni Infantino but said “all” he did was ask for a review and added he did not tell the Swiss he had to suspend Balogun’s ban.
“I thought it was two great athletes who crashed into each other and got entangled,” said Trump
“I think it [the suspension] would have left a big stain. I can’t tell them what to do. I don’t believe they made the decision; I believe it was the commission that made the decision. And it was the right decision.”
Trump said referee Raphael Claus’ decision to send off Balogun was “horrible” and called the Brazilian “a little bit suspect”.
Earlier on Monday, the Royal Belgian Football Association said it was “astonished” by Fifa’s decision to allow Balogun to be selected for the last-16 tie, which kicks off at 17:00 local time (01:00 BST on Tuesday).
Asked by BBC Sport to comment on Trump’s comments, his view on Claus, Belgium’s claims and the appeal process, Fifa said it had “nothing more” to add “for now”.
In raising its concerns, the Royal Belgian Football Association said: “Regardless of the sporting outcome of this match, the RBFA is deeply concerned by the course of events and will continue to fight in the coming hours, days and months in defence of the fundamental principles of ethics, fair competition, and the interests of football as a whole.”
England head coach Thomas Tuchel said the ruling set a dangerous precedent.
Tuchel had defender Jarell Quansah sent off in a dramatic 3-2 win over Mexico.
“Where to draw the line is the question that I ask,” he said. “I have no answer to that.
“Do we appeal if a yellow card is not a yellow card? Do we think it is not a red card or who thinks it? Where does this start and where does this end? It’s my question. I don’t have an answer.”
Uefa – European football’s governing body – said intervening to effectively cancel a suspension at a tournament “crossed a red line”.
Of the 189 other red cards at the World Cup, only once has a player escaped a suspension.
That was Brazil’s Garrincha in 1962 – before automatic bans were in place, and the failure to impose a sanction was shrouded in allegations of political interference.
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