{"id":204321,"date":"2026-07-14T17:10:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/balogun-expected-controversy-after-world-cup-ban-waived\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T17:10:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:10:43","slug":"balogun-expected-controversy-after-world-cup-ban-waived","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/balogun-expected-controversy-after-world-cup-ban-waived\/","title":{"rendered":"Balogun expected controversy after World Cup ban waived"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

United States striker Folarin Balogun says he knew Fifa’s decision to suspend his one-game ban at the World Cup was going to create “a lot of controversy” and could see the resulting “nerves” among his team-mates.<\/b><\/p>\n

Balogun, 25, was dismissed for serious foul play against Bosnia-Herzegovina in the last 32 and should have received an automatic suspension.<\/p>\n

However, Fifa’s disciplinary committee suspended his ban for a year – a decision that prompted widespread condemnation, particularly when it emerged US President Donald Trump and White House officials had lobbied football’s world governing body about the American’s sanction.<\/p>\n

Balogun, who scored three goals at the World Cup, was able to start the USA’s last-16 defeat by Belgium – a decision European football’s governing body Uefa called “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable”.<\/p>\n

“My initial reaction was that I was happy to be back in the team but when I started to reflect, I knew it was going to start a lot of controversy and I could almost see within my team-mates a bit of nerves because it is something that is so unique,” Balogun told CBS., external<\/span><\/p>\n

“The closer we got to the game, I focused the best I could but it was difficult. The outside noise is hard to avoid.<\/p>\n

“My team-mates are like my brothers, they gave me a lot of reassurance. There was nothing I could do or change.”<\/p>\n

The decision to waive Balogun’s suspension came two days before the United States were beaten 4-1 by Belgium.<\/p>\n

Balogun found out that he could feature in the game while on the team bus, which brought “screaming and shouting” among the squad.<\/p>\n

Given the unlikely nature of avoiding an instant suspension for a straight red card, Balogun said he had not been involved in early preparations for the game.<\/p>\n

“It was confusing as the team was practising without me in the team. I almost played a supporting role to keep the morale high,” the Monaco striker added.<\/p>\n

“When we found out on the team bus, everyone was screaming and shouting. It was a pretty intense bus ride to the practice field.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Despite the Belgium defeat, Balogun, who did not score in the game, does not feel it distracted Mauricio Pochettino’s side.<\/p>\n

“It was about separating the emotion from the job at hand. We are all professionals,” he added.<\/p>\n

“It was not something that was too difficult to separate once we got over the initial announcement that I would be back in the team.<\/p>\n

“It was a difficult game against Belgium and that can overshadow whether we are focused or not, but from being inside the camp and set-up I know we had full concentration going into the game.”<\/p>\n

The head of Fifa’s disciplinary committee refused to answer BBC questions about the decision-making process which led to Balogun avoiding a ban.<\/p>\n

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has previously denied having influence over disciplinary decisions.<\/p>\n

England’s Jarell Quansah was similarly shown a red card in England’s 3-2 win over Mexico following a high challenge on Jesus Gallardo and the same committee ruled he should serve a two-match ban.<\/p>\n

It was classed as serious foul play, meaning the Bayer Leverkusen player was handed an extra match on top of the automatic one-game suspension by Fifa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

United States striker Folarin Balogun says he knew Fifa’s decision to suspend his one-game ban at the World Cup was going to create “a lot of controversy” and could see the resulting “nerves” among his team-mates. Balogun, 25, was dismissed for serious foul play against Bosnia-Herzegovina in the last 32 and should have received an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nBalogun expected controversy after World Cup ban waived - Tahrir News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/balogun-expected-controversy-after-world-cup-ban-waived\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Balogun expected controversy after World Cup ban waived\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"United States striker Folarin Balogun says he knew Fifa’s decision to suspend his one-game ban at the World Cup was going to create “a lot of controversy” and could see the resulting “nerves” among his team-mates. 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