Folarin Balogun is back in the lineup for Monday’s knockout game against Belgium. That much is settled. What isn’t settled is the cloud now hanging over the entire U.S. World Cup run after President Donald Trump intervened with FIFA to get the striker’s one-game suspension lifted.
The chain of events moved fast. Balogun, 25, picked up a straight red card in Wednesday’s win over Bosnia-Herzegovina for a foul on Tarik Muharemovic. The automatic suspension meant he’d miss the round-of-16 match. Then Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Thursday. By Sunday, FIFA announced the ban was suspended for a probationary year. Balogun can play.
FIFA’s statement cited Article 27 of its disciplinary code, saying the suspension would only be enforced if Balogun committed a similar offense within 12 months. But nobody is buying the technical explanation as the real reason. The sequence of a presidential phone call followed by a rule-bending reversal has stirred something bigger than a roster decision.
Former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger put it bluntly on X: “Even FIFA is engaged in Trump crime family corruption. If USA wins the cup there will now always be an asterisk. Fair or unfair.”
Geopolitics analyst Cyrus Janssen framed it as a no-win scenario for the team itself. “This isn’t good karma for the U.S. Men’s Team,” he posted. “The U.S. President should not have the power to force FIFA to overturn a decision, but as Trump has proved in his presidency, he is above the law.” His take: if the U.S. beats Belgium, the victory looks tainted. If they lose, even presidential interference couldn’t save them.
Brian Krassenstein, a vocal Trump critic, piled on. “Trump getting Folarin Balogun unsuspended from the World Cup just shows you that everything he touches is delegitimate crap. Now, if the U.S. wins the World Cup, it will be questioned. Thanks, Trump.”
The irony isn’t lost on political journalist Julia Ioffe, who noted that Trump is currently fighting birthright citizenship in the Supreme Court. Balogun was born in New York to British parents who were visiting and couldn’t fly home because his mother was too far along in her pregnancy. That birthright is what makes him eligible to play for the U.S. in the first place.
Belgium’s manager Rudi Garcia was openly sarcastic. “I didn’t know that at the World Cup the 5th of July is actually the first of April. It’s April Fools. We’re not defending the national team or the federation, we are defending football, integrity. It’s the first time in World Cup history that such a decision has been taken.”
The Royal Belgian Football Association said it was “astonished” given there is no appeal process for red cards at the tournament. European pundits were even harsher. Gary Neville called the reprieve something that “absolutely stinks.” Wayne Rooney, speaking on the BBC, said: “If I’m the USA’s opponent, I’d be absolutely fuming. I think it’s wrong in every way. I think it’s an absolute disgrace.”
U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino and playmaker Christian Pulisic have welcomed the decision. But the mood around the team has shifted. Trump took to Truth Social to thank FIFA for “reversing a great injustice” — his first real comment on the World Cup so far, having attended zero games. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had earlier said the U.S. “got screwed” by the red card. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Andrew Giuliani of the White House World Cup task force also contacted FIFA privately, per CBS News.
Meanwhile, England manager Thomas Tuchel joked that he might now call Trump to get Jarell Quansah’s red card overturned after the defender was sent off in England’s win over Mexico. It was a joke. But the fact that it landed as plausible says everything about how this story looks from the outside.
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