Folarin Balogun’s one-match suspension for his red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina has been wiped – meaning the USA forward is free to play against Belgium on Monday.
In an extraordinary development and a huge boost for the co-hosts, United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino will have his star striker available for the World Cup last-16 tie in Seattle after Fifa decided to “suspend” Balogun’s ban.
It was well-documented, and criticised, that there was no avenue in Fifa’s regulations for US officials to appeal Balogun’s red card, given the presence of VAR.
However, Article 27 of Fifa’s disciplinary code states: “The judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure.”
It adds: “If the person benefiting from a suspended sanction commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked by the judicial body and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement.”
The decision is similar in its action to the latter two games of Cristiano Ronaldo’s three-game ban in the World Cup qualifiers being “suspended”, making the Portugal captain available from the start of this World Cup.
Another factor in Fifa’s decision may have been the non-awarding of a red card for Lionel Messi for a similar tackle in Argentina’s win against Algeria.
Pochettino opined after the 2-0 Bosnia win, in which Balogun scored, that he felt the incident – which saw Balogun scrape his studs down the calf of defender Tarik Muharemovic – was “never a red card” and insisted the foul was “not intentional.”
