FIFA has cleared the way for U.S. men’s national team forward Folarin Balogun to play in the USA’s World Cup round of 16 match against Belgium in Seattle on Monday, multiple sources confirmed to us Sunday. The news was first reported by The Athletic.
Balogun — who scored the game-winning goal in last week’s round of 32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina — was shown a controversial red card later in the match, triggering an automatic one-game suspension.
But under FIFA‘s own protocols, the play should not have been flagged to Brazilian referee Raphael Claus by the video assistant, who asked Claus to review the play on the monitor following a slow-motion replay of the incident. Balogun was not even cautioned by Claus on the field.
While the U.S. Soccer Federation had no recourse to appeal the red card under FIFA rules, global soccer’s governing body made the decision to allow Balogun to play in the Americans’ next match.
Balogun leads the USA with three goals at this World Cup.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
