The United States men’s national soccer team got a monumental lift heading into its round of 16 World Cup contest against Belgium on Monday.

FIFA on Sunday suspended the red card that striker Folarin Balogun received in the team’s match against Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32.

As a result, Balogun is now available to play against Belgium for a spot in the quarterfinals.

“By operation of Article 27 FDC, the implementation of the automatic match suspension for USA player Folarin Balogun is suspended for a probationary period of one [1] year,” FIFA said in a statement on its website, according to ESPN.

ESPN shared further:

The U.S. plays Belgium on Monday night at 8 p.m. ET in Seattle, seeking to advance to its first World Cup quarterfinal appearance since 2002. The Americans lost in the round of 16 to Ghana in 2010, Belgium in 2014 and Netherlands in 2022. They failed to advance from the group stage in 2006 and didn’t qualify for the 2018 tournament.

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A statement by U.S. Soccer said: “We accept the decision of the Disciplinary Committee and are pleased that Folarin Balogun is eligible to compete tomorrow.

“Our full attention is focused on the Round of 16 match against Belgium in Seattle, and we look forward to the continued support of our amazing fans.”

A red card calls for an automatic one-game suspension, but players learned of Balogun’s availability when social media posts started popping up during the 10-minute bus ride Sunday from their hotel to training at the University of Washington.

“I think a lot of us thought it was AI at first,” defender Chris Richards said. “We weren’t sure if it was true or not.”

Belgium’s federation also put out a statement expressing its shock and said it was “investigating all potential options.”

“The Royal Belgian Football Association is astonished by FIFA’s decision to declare suspended United States player Folarin Balogun eligible to play in the USA-Belgium match on Monday, 6 July at 5:00 p.m. [Seattle time],” the statement read.

“Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“President Trump called the head of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, and asked him to review the red card suspension of U.S. soccer star Folarin Balogun,” ABC News stated.

More from The New York Times:

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Shortly after Mr. Balogun’s red card, senior Trump administration officials, including Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, and Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House task force on the World Cup, engaged lawyers to help the U.S. Soccer Federation try to appeal, despite FIFA’s rules against such appeals, according to two of the people familiar with the call.

U.S. Soccer officials argued the red card was improperly given to Mr. Balogun because the officials should not have used slow-motion video replay in determining the penalty, the people said. Use of video replays is common practice, and players have frequently been ejected after reviews.

Scott Goodwin, a hedge fund manager and major donor to U.S. Soccer, brought to the attention of Trump officials public accusations that Raphael Claus, the referee, was involved in match fixing in Brazil by giving out irregular red cards. Brazilian authorities and FIFA have found no evidence of wrongdoing by Mr. Claus, but Mr. Trump brought up those allegations in his call with Mr. Infantino, the people familiar with the call said. Mr. Goodwin referred comment to U.S. Soccer. Mr. Claus did not initially call a foul on Mr. Balogun but was asked to review his decision by other officials tasked with monitoring replays. That group hailed from Venezuela, Colombia and France.

On Sunday, Mr. Infantino and Mr. Trump spoke again right after Mr. Balogun was reinstated, and the president told Mr. Infantino that it was the right decision, the people said. Mr. Trump also called Mauricio Pochettino, the U.S. coach, and wished him luck in the game against Belgium on Monday. Mr. Pochettino told reporters at a news conference on Sunday that his team was “not the bad guys.”

 

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