It's just girl's kickball game.
Well, at least it isn't the National Felon League....
Posted on 07/06/2026 7:08:30 AM PDT by RandFan
Uefa has strongly criticised Fifa's shock decision not to uphold Folarin Balogun's automatic ban at this World Cup, calling it "unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable".
United States striker Balogun, who was sent off against Bosnia-Herzegovina, should have served a suspension for the last-16 tie against Belgium. (Tuesday)
But World Cup organisers Fifa, the governing body of world football, opted not to enforce an immediate sanction on the 25-year-old, meaning the co-hosts' leading goalscorer will be available to play.
Uefa, European football's governing body, said that intervening to effectively cancel a suspension at a tournament "crossed a red line".
Of the 188 other red cards at the World Cup, only one other player has escaped a suspension.
That was Brazil's Garrincha in 1962, which was before automatic bans were in place and it was shrouded in allegations of political interference.
The BBC's US media partner CBS News has confirmed that Balogun's reinstatement came after US president Donald Trump called Fifa president Gianni Infantino on Thursday and spoke about the suspension.
On Sunday, President Trump thanked Fifa for "reversing a great injustice".
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
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This one smells a bit.
It’s extraordinary 😅
Enjoy the match
The integrity was at stake when he got the red card in the first place.
europeans are a bunch of pussies that have to resort to cheating because they can’t compete on a level playing field.
The fact that America has had to save their weak asses in two wars is historical proof of how weak they are and the weakest of all is the uk. Allowing islam to take over the country shows first rate cowardice.
What’s the old joke?....”wanna buy a european military rifle? Never fired and only dropped once!”.
The rest of the world should get on it’s knees and thank God for THE United States.
The rest of the world is 3rd rate compared to US.
Too bad Obama didn’t make the phone call ... then it would be OK.
WIKI
Balogun scored the opening goal in the 2–0 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32, matching Landon Donovan for the second-most goals scored by an American in a single FIFA World Cup, with three, trailing only Patenaude’s four goals in 1930. However, later in the game he received a controversial red card by referee Raphael Claus for a contact foul on the ankle of Tarik Muharemović in the 64th minute when the two players were challenging for the ball. This made Balogun only the fourth World Cup player to score a goal and receive a red card in the same match, most recently by Zinedine Zidane in 2006. This initially forced him out of the United States’ round of 16 match against Belgium, which led to outrage by American fans and a media campaign of “Free Flo”. However, the suspension was later overturned after a committee of lawyers claimed the use of instant slow motion VAR violated FIFA rules and the red card was excessive compared to similar incidents in the World Cup. The card was rescinded under the Article 27 authority of the FIFA Disciplinary Code by FIFA president Gianni Infantino. It was confirmed by AP News that U.S. president Donald Trump called Infantino to review the controversial red card decision. In reaction, this led to anger and controversy from Belgium, who felt it was a violation of Article 66.4 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, which states that “a sending-off automatically incurs suspension from the subsequent match”. In the morning of July 6, the day of the match between the United States and Belgium, Belgium was granted the right to appeal the decision to let Balogun play in that day’s game.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folarin_Balogun
Ref was on the take
🚨OFFICIAL: Belgium have submitted their appeal to FIFA before the deadline for FIFA’s decision to overturn Folarin Balogun's suspension.
Balogun could still miss the USA's World Cup game vs Belgium tonight
94% chance he plays, per Polymarket— Polymarket Sports (@PolymarketSport) July 6, 2026
Exactly.
No it doesn’t. That red card call was an Abomination and an Injustice.
I agree with UEFA.
That’s why the demo-commies love them so much - they can’t compete without cheating, either.
which brings up another woke issue, USA player is black...why does he get suspended and not an equal number of our white players? and isn’t Trump a racist? why is he standing up for a black player? With a foreign sounding name...none of this makes sense in woke, intersectional(?) thinking
S***w Belgium.
It's just girl's kickball game.
Well, at least it isn't the National Felon League....
Maybe they shouldn’t even hold the World Cup tournament anymore. They should just award the trophy to the U.S. every four years. :-P
“Folarin Balogun received a red card for stepping awkwardly on the right ankle of Tarik Muharemović”
There’s a video I didn’t watch.
Beat those Miserable Fat Belgian Bastards!
But it’s OK for the Soccer God Messi to do the same thing, with his head looking at the opponent......and he get’s nothing.
Why doesn’t UEFA complain about that? Because it didn’t affect a European team. So much for integrity.
And did anyone watch Paraguay conducting multiple assaults on French players that didn’t result in yellow/red cards? In the NFL those assaults would result in ejections.
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