Trump's Alleged Intervention Leads to FIFA U-Turn on Folarin Balogun's Red Card

The controversy escalated because according to media reports, US President Donald Trump was directly behind this decision. Trump is said to have personally requested FIFA President Gianni Infantino to review Balogun's case, after which the whole matter was overturned. The United States defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 in the Round of 32 match. In the 64th minute of this match, Folarin Balogun made a studs tackle on defender Tarik Muharemovich, after which he was shown a straight red card. According to FIFA rules, a player has to automatically miss the next match if he receives a straight red card. That is, Balogun could not play in the Round of 16 match against Belgium. But suddenly FIFA's Disciplinary Committee changed the decision. The mandatory one-match ban was lifted and it was changed to a one-year probationary period. This means that Balogun will continue to play in the World Cup tournament and UEFA said in a statement on Monday that after the European football body decided against his red card.