One match disqualification, but with probation. This is the unprecedented decision of the Fifa Disciplinary for Folarin Balogun, the USA striker sent off with a direct red card in the round of 32 win against Bosnia. The sanction, FIFA says, is suspended for a one-year trial, and so in fact Balogun is available for the round of 16 match against Belgium, in Seattle next Tuesday night.
For Balogun, FIFA informs, article 27 of the Disciplinary Code was applied, which provides for a period of suspension of the disciplinary sanction from one to four years, during which recidivism reactivates the disqualification, plus new sanctions. The 25-year-old striker, the USA’s top scorer at the World Cup with three goals, was sent off in the 19th minute of the second half of the match against Bosnia, last July 1st, for a foul on Muharemovic: a so-called “step on foot” intervention, basically a stomp. which had cost him the red card. The referee’s decision had provoked protests from American fans, many of whom paradoxically had asked Trump on social media to intervene with a pardon.
Trump: “Justice is done”
Donald Trump applauds the lifting of the ban against US striker Folarin Balogun. “Thanks to FIFA for acting justly and for having remedied a serious injustice!”, wrote the tycoon on his social network Truth. Balogun will be available for the USA’s round of 16 match against Belgium, scheduled for Monday. The FIFA Disciplinary Commission, in an unprecedented move, annulled the red card given to the US striker during the victory against Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32.